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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Thank you for reading, watching and listening to Short Sip Tarot on the TaoCraft Tarot Blog, the TaoCraft Tarot youtube channel and shorts, and the Clairvoyant Confessional podcast. The Short Sip posts are a Tarot reading and thought for the day in the time it takes to sip from your morning coffee.
Today’s card is the Knight of Pentacles.
Knight cards are associated with action, and pentacles are associated with the element of earth.
Earth – as in grounded, rooted, solid energy.
Some days are like that. When you work with Tarot most days, you can see the ebb and flow of energy. Even if you do just quick daily one card meditations over time you see the larger patterns of energy. Patterns is a little bit of a misleading word in this context. It isn’t as if there is anything predictable or regular about it. It isn’t to say there is a set pattern like day and night or the progression of the seasons. It’s more like observation over years teaches you the kinds of clouds that roll in the with the weather for the day.
The Zen proverb “Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water” captures this particular energy very well. The idea idea isn’t necessarily attached to any one particular Tarot card, but it does come through Pentacle cards more often than the others. Both the suit of cards and the proverb are grounded and practical. Both remind us how important it is to balance mind, spirit AND body. Physical health supports mental and emotional health and mental while mind and spirit support the body as well. It is no better to be overly occupied with spirituality than it is to be wrapped up the the physical realm and ignore the spiritual altogether.
With the focus on balance, you would expect this energy and message to be attached to the TWO of pentacles. Often, it is. In this case there is a little extra message behind the mind – body – spirit balance idea.
Sometimes you have to DO something to achieve that balance.
Exercise. Eat well. Take a nap if you need it. Change the shelf paper. Do some mundane task that you’ve been putting off.
The spiritual is still there. There is magic in the mundane, but there is also a little mundane in the magic. To paraphrase the poet Duane Toops … a miracle is still a miracle even if it doesn’t feel like one.
A day is still a miracle even when it feels and needs to be ordinary.
Thank you for watching, listening and reading. TaoCraft Short Sip Tarot is a reading to guide your day in the time it takes to sip from your morning coffee…or whatever your beverage of choice may be. Any likes, subs, shares, follows, reading orders or membership subscriptions you can spare are always, always greatly appreciated!
Today’s card is the Seven of Wands.
The classic meaning has to do with success after struggle. You are going to get what you want to go – but you are going have to work for it, maybe a little harder and longer than you expected.
Back and forth, yin and yang, good stuff comes after hard stuff – even when the hard stuff is internal and about personal development rather than literal, physical realm struggles.
Matt Auryn, in his book Psychic Witch reminds us that “everything you touch touches you.” That connectivity and reciprocity is inherent to many if not all Tarot cards. It applies to the Seven of Wands even though it is tempting to see it as the surface meaning portrayed in the picture on the card. It is easy to see the Seven of Wands as an omen of a conflict or a struggle that is in progress, eminent, or looming on the horizon.
Underneath the struggle there is a thread of potential success that you may not sense in cards like the three of swords or the devil card. There is a hint that the struggle will be worth it on some level, even if it isn’t necessarily a victory by surface definitions.
I’m especially fond of Ellen Dugan’s added advice to meet challenges and overcome them with “style, wit and humor.” In his Heart of Stars Tarot, Thom Pham points to the character Obyron from Game of Thrones. Mr. Pham emphasizes Obyron’s persistence, and 100% dedication to the battle at hand. He’s all in and never gives up. But, just like Ms. Dugan, there is a nod to a great sense of style. Obyron is the essence of self confidence, beyond comfortable in his own skin and as much of a bon vivant, racountour and hedonist as he is a fierce warrior.
Both of these give us a hint about how to cope with our daily battles. If you touch daily struggles with your own unique style and personal sense of humor, it may touch you back with a little bit of hope. It might let you see the thread of victory and silver lining that helps you doggedly persist. Challenges that stretch beyond our comfort zone are often just the way of things. A little style and humor makes that way of struggle leading to success just a little more worth it.
TaoCraft Short Sip Tarot: guidance for your day in the time it takes to sip from your morning coffee.
Thank you SO much for listening, watching and reading! I appreciate your support and any likes, subs, shares, follows, comments, questions or reading orders that you can spare. The virtual coffee mug supports the blog and podcast. Contact information is below or in the podcast episode description. Have a question for the Clairvoyant? Speak right up and send it right in! Ask anything and everything (within reason) will be answered in upcoming podcast episodes, possibly with an on-air Tarot reading.
Today’s card is the World from the major arcana.
Back in the day, the world was all there was. Humans have been looking to the stars as long as we’ve had clear nights and eyeballs. Our perspective has changed a great deal since then.
Tarot was in use a hundred years before the telescope was invented. Don’t get your knickers in a bunch, I’m not equating the two. What I’m saying is that Tarot is still a product of the largely pre-scientific times in which it emerged. Tarot was psychology before psychology was invented. It was stress management and personal development and creative problem solving long before we had words for those things. The world was bigger then so the World card carries connotations that it wouldn’t had the deck evolved as an oracle in a more technologically advanced culture. Today, we might be better served calling the card “The Universe” or “The Cosmos” or something that implies a true gestalt.
We are often told to keep our eyes on the prize. That is good advice. Staying focused and avoiding distraction certainly helps us to progress. To focus like that, however, we have to narrow our field of vision. It is a mental reflection of how optics and our vision tend to work. It makes me wonder. What are we missing if we focus “eyes on the prize” too much? Focus is good, but narrow. It’s also a good idea to zoom out, look at the biggest big picture you can muster. It lets you see where the prize you are eyeing fits in the big picture. It lets you see your progress toward it. The big picture lets you see what other prizes are out there and if the original is the right treasure for you. It’s hard to adjust your direction with narrow-focus blinders on.
Eyes on the prize is important, but eyes on the big picture can be very helpful too.
Please watch the video for today’s reading. Thanks for watching!
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Short Sip Tarot is a a Tarot reading in the time it takes for a sip (or two) of your morning coffee.
Today’s card is the Page of Cups.
I’ve always loved the fun and absurdity of a fish in a cup, which is probably the most iconic image associated with this card.
It takes an active imagination to really enjoy it, I think. That’s the cool thing about imaginations. All it takes to activate it is to want to do it. Want to be imaginative? Imagine what it would be like and POOF it’s there.
We tend to associate imagination with children and artists. I disagree. I think we are all wired to be imaginative. It’s what gives homo sapiens our evolutionary advantage. We can imagine something out of impossible nothingness and then figure out a way to make it tangible. Logic and science and imagination and intuition are all deeply interdependent
That’s why I believe we are all capable of intuition. Imagination and intuition are closely linked. Try this sometime: Imagine what your day will be like tomorrow. It can be anything. It can be what you WANT to happen or it can be what you EXPECT to happen. It can be as realistic or as fish-in-a-cup absurd as you want it to be. Close your eyes and imagine it as best as you can for a minute. Write a few notes about what you imagined if you want. Written or remembered revisit your bit of imagination at the end of tomorrow.
It isn’t going to be predictive. What actually happens might be – probably will be – totally different from the way you imagined it. Think of your minute of imagination more broadly and abstractly than that. Was there anything your moment of imagination taught you about how to deal with today? Did it show you anything about bias and expectations that may have tripped up the day that happened?
Or, of equal importance, how did the minute of imagination affect your mood?
Did imagining the day to come make you more anxious for what might happen? Did it really happen that way? Imagination can teach us about anticipatory anxiety, like the Mark Twain quote “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, most of which never happened.”
Maybe imagination helped you feel more prepared and calmer about the unexpected. The possibilities are endless and also useful. Imagination can be a very grown up thing. Although grown ups can have fun too. You never know when you are going to need to play stare eyes with a fish in a cup.
It’s easy to think yourself into circles. This is a card for all the over-thinkers of the world, but anyone can become overwhelmed.
Sometimes the seven of cups is a good problem to have. If you only have one really viable option, then deciding is easy. This card is about an embarrassment of riches when it comes to options and choices. That’s not the worst problem to have. But however good or bad the problem may be, how do you solve it?
The back burner is your friend.
I grew up in a very rural place south of the Mason Dixon line. Whatever else you may think of southern culture in the U.S. the food is fantastic. It seems like everyone is born knowing how to cook and cook well. In that elite company, regardless how many potluck dishes or helping hands you have in the kitchen, making the turkey for Thanksgiving was the black belt test. In our family the hoopla was at the house wherever the turkey baker lived and everyone helped but if you own the kitchen and you make the bird you are in charge. To put it in Star Trek terms, if you are Captain Turkey, you have the con. The way they could get everything together, hot and tasty, all on the table all at the same time was a wonder to behold.
Even cooking a comparatively small meal for our own little household, getting it all in the same place at the same time takes a little strategy. The Thanksgiving meals I make are far more Cowboy Bebop than Captain Kirk. But it is still a hint about how to deal with an overwhelming number of choices, tasks or side dishes: Shift your attention.
Take a break and work on something else. It works for too many choices and for a lack of ideas. If you feel like a deer in headlights or feel like you “got nothin'” to give to the situation. rotating your attention to a different project works a magic of its own.
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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