Tag: career

Timeflow

Blursday. The 98th day of Maraprilay in the fifth year of the great quarantine of 2020.

I dunno who came up with the “Blursday” thing on the interwebs, but they deserve a pulitzer or something for capturing the flavor of this whole thing in one word. 

It’s not a negative thing to my mind. I like Blursday. It’s my new favorite day, mostly because I was trying to freelance from home long before all of this started. I don’t mind having my all adult fam here. Free pickup at the grocery store is frosting on the 24/7 comfy pants cake. 

No great cloud is without its silver lining, and not great benefit is without its minor asspains. When I was working, even short handed and on call, time management wasn’t that big of a deal. You work your hours, execute some sort of basic hygiene, and if there was any time left there were plenty of things to do. Pick one. Sleep when you can. Easy.

Creative and freelance work is the exact opposite. Following the white rabbit of inspiration when it comes along is part of the job description. With greater flexibility means more effort is needed to manage time, even before Blursday came along.  I’m not super neat or organized in the first place, but I do like to contemplate plans for the day over morning coffee. How else can plans get blown to heck and force a person to adapt if you don’t make some semblance of a plan in the first place?

Even now, in my completely not humble opinion, the five card Modern Oracle card layout is the best all-purpose layout. I designed it to empower choices with a side of validating the path you are on. I wrote it mainly because I couldn’t find another layout that did quite that thing. No one layout can do everything. How do you make a choice when you aren’t sure what the choices are? How do you start down a path when you aren’t sure which direction to take the first step?

I’ve been looking for a good get-organized card layout. Owl and Bones Tarot had one that was close with their “embrace – face – erase” layout. They are brilliant at creating layouts (check out their Instagram feed) Triage is a lot to ask of any Tarot reading. Necessity being the mother of invention, it seemed time to write another one. The “TimeFlow” layout is simply this:

  • Let It Rest: This points to something that may have been getting a lot of your time, energy and attention that needs some space and rest. This isn’t to say that you should ignore it entirely, but maybe dial back the intensity. I want to compare it to a good southern brisket or pulled pork. You season it, then there is nothing more to do for it except low heat and plenty of time. You’ll know when it is time to bring it back out and get it ready to serve.
  • Let It Go: Some things are just plain over. Done. It no longer serves you. It it fresh out of joy to spark. Maybe this is a thought, habit, or thought habit that has grown stagnant if not outright unhealthy. This is something to consider sweeping out the door entirely.
  • Que It Up: This is about preparation and timing. It is the “on deck” circle to borrow from baseball. This is the next issue or idea to come into the spotlight. This is like the brisket in the first card that needs prepared to serve because it is almost dinner time. Think in terms of “not yet, but soon”
  • Let it Roll: Go! This card is the starter’s gun in track meet. This is number 1 on the list. This is where energy is already flowing in your favor. Don’t let the window of opportunity close on this one.

I’ve been working with this layout for a short time. I’ve already learned a few key points about it. First, it isn’t something to do often. Nothing other than a one card daily meditation should be done too often.  Follow your instinct, but don’t second guess, don’t keep asking again and again. As with any Tarot layout, the message gets muddled and confusing if it is over done.

Also like every other Tarot reading, it is more about ideas than concrete physical details. It won’t tell which project to pick up neck. It is better with intangibles. It seems to excel at pointing to the area of life or to the broad topic that most warrants your attention (or needs to be set aside.) For example if someone is frustrated at work, a coins card might say to let career rest, a swords card might ask them to let go of the idea of impressing a certain boss, cups might direct their attention toward a relationship whose time has not quite come, and finally, a wands card might point out the urgency of managing stress and feeding the inner spiritual world right now. It seems to organize within a single topic, too, when the topic is intangible.

So far, I’ve only read for myself with this card pattern, but I’m hoping you will help me change that. If you are interested in a FREE TimeFlow reading by email, please visit the special offers page and use the contact form there. That form is the only place that the free reading is available. I hope you will be patient…I don’t yet know how fast these will turn around or what the interest will be. I also hope you will send your feedback about the reading. I’d love to hear what you think! Don’t wait…the offer expires Blursday, the 98th day of Maraprilay in the fifth year of the great 2020 quarantine…

Zombie Cat Yes-or-No: Stay or Go

Congratulations to our FREE Zombie Cat Yes/No Reading winner

THANK YOU for participating and helping me celebrate TaoCraft Tarot’s first anniversary!

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Q: Should I leave my boyfriend and move back to my hometown?

A: Maybe, leaning YES

The up side is the whole time I’m pulling your cards I could hear the Clash song “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” The song is a little playful and fun, which makes me think this isn’t a big crises. He may surprise you and move too, or you could always move back to where you are now if you get home and change your mind, or if you stay, you could change your mind the other way and decide to go later….there are lots of ways to go about this, so I can see why it is a tough decision.

The Ace of Swords is a very uplifting sort of card. It has to do with mind, and intellect and the element of air. Try logic. If your heart is pulling you in both directions equally, is there some nuts and bolts logical reason that tips the scales one way or the other?

If that doesn’t decide it, try imagination. Take some quiet time and imagine how it would be to move back to your home town. Then think about how the things you just imagined make you FEEL. What is your intuition about how it might turn out? Do you feel 100% all in on going or is something holding you back? Is there anything you might regret about going? Trust those feelings.

Repeat the process and imagine staying where you are with your boyfriend. How does that feel? Happy, sad, regrets, excitement, hesitation?

All just food for thought

Ace of coins has to do with wealth and career. It is also a positive card. Long distance relationships are HARD. But put aside the relationship part of this for a moment. What option between staying or going is going to be better for your finances, work, and your ability to take care of yourself in the long run? Which option is better for you in the other parts of life outside of the relationship with your boyfriend?

The Three of Swords is the real attention-getter. It feels like it is trying to tell you there is an important piece of information that you are missing that would cinch the decision for you. What is it you’ve missed? It feels like there is some hidden bombshell that could make the decision REALLY easy. It might just be a matter of delaying the choice, delaying the move until all the cards are on the table so to speak. Be a high information decision maker for this one.

Is the relationship important enough to stay for? Would you regret the strain that could put on the relationship? Is there something about the relationship that puts it on shaky ground and makes moving home more appeaIing? Is there anything at home that has changed that would make it less appealing and staying the better option? Make sure you have all the facts and really understand both situations fully before you decide or take any action one way or the other.

In my full readings, I’ll give crystal suggestions, positive affirmations, things like that at this point, but I’m not really getting anything here. All the energy is pointing to the three of swords, know all of your facts idea. That is more helpful right now than those other frosting-on-the-cake details anyway.

Stay or go, I wish you all the best.

R.

Order your own Zombie Cat yes or no reading at the special price of $5. Zombie Cat readings are only available during the fall and winter holidays, so get yours before Zombie Cat shambles away!

Click HERE to order.

10 of Cups and the Fool: How do you read opposite Tarot Cards?

 

Q: What do you do when two cards in one spread seem to be total opposites? I was reading for myself and had both the Fool and the 10 of cups. I’ve always thought of the Fool as beginnings and 10 of cups as a happy ending. How can you have both beginnings and endings in one reading?

A: Several things come to mind.

First question to ask yourself is “are these two cards talking about the same thing?”

If each card resonates with different facet of life, they could easily carry vastly different messages. For example, the Fool might refer to work where someone might be ending a project successfully while at the same time they may only be at the beginning of a new romance.

Another helpful thing is to look at the placement of the cards within the layout. Could the cards be pointing out different points in a process, or different sequential parts of some larger overall idea. Even though they are different, can they work together in sequence like the parts of a sentence? For example that work project…the Fool and 10 might combine into a sequence something like “Don’t make the new project harder than it really is. A light heart makes for a light load and a happy ending.”

Knowing the “meaning” for each card’s position within the larger spread can help figure that one out.

Like I’ve always said about the 8 of Cups – the best way to solve a paradox is to look for the bigger picture. Often a step back and a wider view will show that two seemingly very different things are just different pieces in a bigger jigsaw puzzle. Beginnings and endings seem opposite if you think of them as a single, linear process. But what if you take a step back and think of them as natural cycles instead? Then they cozy up together very nicely. Summer ends, but fall begins. The caterpillar ends, but the butterfly begins. Is there a big-picture cyclic message of some kind here?

If none of that makes sense out of the reading for you, it’s time to do a little logical legwork. Each Tarot card has lots of “meanings”. The fool can be associated with beginnings…or a reminder to play. 10 of cups can be a good ending…or deep roots and family happiness. If the other context clues don’t help, break out your favorite reference books and warm up the google machine…a little light browsing of other meanings and associations might let an idea jump out at you.

If worse comes to absolute worse, you could always re-do the reading, but in my experience it seems to work out better to wring the meaning out of your original cards rather then keep re-reading the daylights out of a question. Looking for guidance about the same thing over and over and over seems to muddle and frustrate things more than clarify them most of the time.

Good luck! Any other questions, don’t hesitate to let me know

3 Card (Pathway) Tarot Reading

Q: You drew a card for me on Halloween which was (and still is!) really meaningful, so lovely to connect with you again. I saw your Instagram post and would love to have you pull a few cards for me if the places haven’t been filled, but no worries if not! Happy to have a reading via the blog 🙂 

Sara23Nov18

For ******

November 23, 2018

First of all, thank you so much for your kind words!

I’m always so happy to hear when a reading is helpful….after all, that’s why we do these things! But the same is true as the last reading: If you have any questions, complaints or need any clarification with the reading please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Since you didn’t specify a topic, I’ll just move ahead with an open-to-anything point of view.

Your Cards Today Are:

  • Background & Context: King of Coins (Pentacles)
  • Current Situation: Three of Swords
  • Moving Forward: King of Swords

General Pattern

All cards are minor arcana, which in a layout this small is no real statistical surprise. Intuitively it feels like a bit of reassurance, that nothing really major is stirring the energies for you right now. It is all pretty business as usual more than it’s not. It has a feeling that business as usual for you entails being really good at what you do. Business as usual is kicking butt and taking names from the feel of it. In that vein, it feels like a very plain-talking, no nonsense kind of reading. It also feels like most of the reading energy is pointing toward work and career thoughts, which would go right along with having a coins card right off the bat like that. The repetitions are asking for attention. You have two swords, which connote action, the element of air, intellect and logic, authority, or your connection with society and culture at large. Knit all of that together and my attention is pulled to using cold, calculating intellect when it comes to work, especially when dealing with the authority structure, or any vying for promotions or power within the structure of the workplace. “Power Play” comes to mind along with an old episode of M*A*S*H where the Colonel accuses someone (Frank? Hotlips? Klinger?) of “going over my head so many times I’m getting athletes scalp” I guess the shorthand for that would be watch out for power playing brown nosers at work. The other repetition is the two kings. Kings connote leadership. It feels like the situation may be asking you for leadership, confidence, self-starting, standing up for yourself….even if you are already good at that, it feels like the skills you have will be put through their paces, and you may even be pushed a tiny bit outside your comfort zone in that respect. I ‘hear’ (meaning the intuition comes as words instead of feelings or images) to “Hang on and be brave” There was a great meme about spirit guides (the lady) you (the boy) and a life lesson. Here is the photo part if you want to take a peek: https://goo.gl/images/gdXriU Your guides feel like they are reminding you they won’t lead you anywhere you are not ready to go, but since you are ready…buckle up baby!

Background & Context: King of Coins

This part is the reminder of competence you have, and that you are more than ready to meet leadership challenges at work, or any other part of life, really. The King of Coins as a card connotes wealth and success, so a note of reassurance there again. I hear “build on past skills and successes” I’m not clear whether that means use your skills and knowledge that you have in hand to fullest advantage, to build new skill and expand your knowledge and experience…or both. It doesn’t feel like a job change as much as an expansion of the current situation.

Current Situation: Three of Swords

Classically, this tends to be a bit darker, more dire card across all of the decks and references that I have. Often it will set me off on maternal lecture mode about be safe, keys out, park under lights, and all that usual lecture….but not so much for you today. This feels more petty than malicious. It isn’t the devil or dark side card for good reason. This feels petty, and small, and contained to one aspect of life, like office politics. “Watch out for petty backstabbers” comes to mind. Very office politics, but also heavy on the petty….like an annoying mosquito that can drive you mad if you let it, or just brush it away. The more calm, detached, intellectual and swords / mental-focus the better.

Moving Forward: King of Swords

You know how I read cards…the cards have suit, element, layout position, and general card meaning. But each card, based on all that other stuff, can have a different spin or ‘flavor’ of message; advice (something to consider doing) caution (something to consider avoiding) or validation (acknowledgement, encouragement, cosmic thank you) There has been a lot of validation energy so far. This has a little more of an advice spin. The card feels less like it pertains to you and more like it represents an ally…someone in the hierarchy at work who you can cultivate an working relationship with, who can be a mentor of sorts. “Have your back” comes to mind. Like someone who knows your skills, sees your potential. It feels like it might be literally a male figure of some sort. Does any of this ring a bell for you? I’m not sure how else to understand the card, because it has a not-you but someone who can help you sort of symbolism around it. Beyond that it is dark – meaning no signal, not evil or bad kind of dark. It feels like that is the card or energy telling me that is a singular message from this card….seek out a mentor or ally at work.

Summary

This part is like a psychic “cold reading” where I free form give you any impressions that come to mind. In readings that have a topic or question, this part might connect to that or the cards….or it might not. In an open reading like this one, it just stays in the open frame of mind.

Often it starts with colors, or crystals or both. In this case I see citrine. It associates with the solar plexus chakra, and therefor confidence. Wear or carry it for confidence at work. It also resonates with the King cards, and the coins suit because the golden color has to do with wealth, career, luck and to some extent leadership.

I taste butterscotch, with lemon scent in the background. That might be a continuation of the golden color associations. Butterscotch may symbolize comfort, while lemon in aromatherapy is very cleansing and energizing. Lemon may be important relevant to work, as diffusing some lemon fragrance, lighting a lemon scented candle, or using anything lemon after work might do two things…first it would be a clear transition signal. It could remind you work is done, clear any annoyances or negativity from your day, and let you know to shift into family/home/private life mode. It will also lift your energy…stress or pettiness at work can put an extra drain on your energies. Lemon could help neutralize that and lift your energy after a long day. Don’t use citrus oils on your skin if you will be in sunlight within the next 12 hours…it can cause sun sensitivity. Also don’t put it on your skin if you have autoimmune diseases as it enhances immunity (a good thing in cold/flu season for most people)

And there the energies step back. I hope this helps!

Best Wishes,

Ronda