celebration – Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot

CrystalCast for week of 5 Dec 22

The story continues. It always does.

Hi and welcome to the TaoCraft Tarot blog and Podcast. I’m glad you are here. I hadn’t planned on doing one of these this week, but when the time presented itself, well, the schedule is that there is no schedule so here we are.

This is a new blog & podcast feature that I’m developing. It’s purely intuition driven, using crystal chips and rune stones tossed randomly on a reading cloth as a prompt, or a sounding board, or an amplifier for the intuition. But then, that is exactly how Tarot readings work so it isn’t so much develop as practice. You get the idea.

I like the way this energy picks up where the last one leaves off. Remember how the runestones made a line, a wall of sorts a few weeks ago. The advice was to chill and not to push and wait for the energy to flow again.

This is our cue. We are past whatever that blockage or “wait” energy was. Energy is on an upswing. It’s time to climb. It’s time to move again…or time to move on.

Here the images go all pop culture. I get a snippet of that old Doors song, about “break on through to the other side” (Where did that come from? I’m listening to my goth playlist right now, for crying out loud.) Here is another reference for the gen X and boomers out there. Cue the kool-aid “oh yeah” commercials with the pitcher mascot guy breaking through walls and stuff. I think that means we are definitely on the other side of whatever that blockage might have been.

But it isn’t as lighthearted as flavored sugary sugar drinks might imply. There is a catch in the throat and a little heaviness in the pit of the stomach with this one. It is definitely time to move on, but it isn’t necessarily with with a light heart or a dry eye. This is a very nostalgic time of year. It is the hardest time to think of leaving anything behind, even things that have proven harmful or long past due. There is a strong eight of cups sort of bittersweet feeling here.

As much as I love Halloween, there comes a time to get rid of the moldy jack o lantern and that turkey carcass has got to go.

It is also a very forward looking time of year. We all hold hope that next year will be just a little better. That happens. I live in the United States so I can only compare the local energies, really, but compare 2022 to the toxic dumpster fire explosion that 2020 here. NOW covid vaccines and real treatments actually exist, unemployment is remarkably low, things are getting fixed because there actually was an infrastructure bill,there is a good man in the White House and toilet paper in the stores. I might have to make a loaf of sourdough just for old time’s sake, but that’s another story.

The larger piece of raw quarz at the top gives a sense of amplified energy “from above.” We are moving again, and headed in a good direction.

My logical side throws in “don’t screw it up” in what sounds a lot like Han Solo telling Luke Skywalker not to get cocky.

The Raidho rune is expansive, and speaks of will power, personal power, discipline, self-control, motivation, action…all of which fits the narrative of movement, rising, moving on.

Ihwaz speaks of an awareness of karma, and personal responsibility. We reap as we sow, and the seeds we plant now brings a future harvest. Act as if what you give to the universe returns to you three times as much.

The light and dark crystals seem even in amount, a reminder to be as steady and balanced as you can be. Solid footing is more important than speed. Slow and steady is still moving ahead, still moving on, just the same as a sprint. This isn’t a race.

The lone chip off to the side reminds that what is said isn’t for everyone. You must decide if it resonates or if you are an outlier to this cast’s message.

And there the energy steps back.

I was around more than planned in November, but the blog and podcast are going to be on for-real hiatus from December 5 to December 22. Happy Holidays to all of you, whatever holiday you may or may not celebrate.

I celebrate the human spirit that survives the long night and the diverse multitude of colorful lights that you all are. Best wishes to you. See you soon.

Today’s Tarot: I’m Proud of You

If you are serious about living an enriched life and being a better person, then stepping outside of your comfort zone – even for a moment – is inevitable. That happens a lot in Tarot. The cards will nudge you toward a better path even if that means kicking you entirely out of your comfort zone in the process. This post might be one of those moments. It is for me. Today’s card uncomfortably pokes at some old issues, but imma just say what intuition gives anyway. This post is a little sweary and political. If you are not up for that, no worries, just skip it and come back for the next post. I’ll be back to my usual religion and politics avoidance policy by then.

Evangelical dogma and connotations around the word pride is reason nine thousand ninety-nine hundred and eleventy-one why I ran screaming from my family’s religion.

I was raised in the American evangelical subculture by the church deacon and Sunday school teacher who helped found the town’s first Southern Baptist affiliated church. (Yeah, THOSE Southern Baptists in the WaPo article) That kind of thinking turns the innocent word “pride” into something wrong and guilt-riddled. They turn pride into a sin (as do Catholics, so I’m told.)

If being happy with who I really am while proudly celebrating the authentic selves of the people I love is a sin, then hail Satan and pass the asbestos underwear! See you in hell, frens!

It’s a stretch, but I’m guessing the “pride” they are talking about is maybe a language artifact. Language shifts and evolves over time, even when fundamentalists don’t. Bronze age manuscripts filtered through medieval translations and bent to contemporary evangelical ends frames their version of “pride” as being unbridled ego. It makes sense that, in a world before psychology, a mental state like that would be attributed to a more common word like pride. If you define it in those terms “pride goes before a fall” isn’t wrong. Out of control narcissism leads to poor choices and risky behavior (like, for example, the former president who was supported by 80% of white evangelicals according to NPR)

Whatever the reason, it is still a shame that the newer, healthier connotations of the word pride is often haunted by these older, negative, derogatory undertones.

It’s June, so it’s not psychic or paranormal for my thoughts turn to Pride Month.

With the Four of Wands today, the words “quirk” and “celebrate” step forward. “Quirk” is the name for superpowers in the anime My Hero Academia that we’ve been watching lately. Superpower or not, socially acceptable or not, “quirk” here means anything that makes you unique and is a key part of your individual, authentic self. “Celebrate with pride” comes strongly to mind.

This is where it gets uncomfortable. I am reminded of reason number 1 why I ran screaming from the evangelicals: bigotry. Rampant, pervasive, intractable bigotry including overt homophobia. Not every single individual certainly, but the words that pour from those they collectively elevate to their pulpits speaks for everyone in a congregation. Loudly.

The ministers are literally in front of and above everyone else when they speak. Imagine the heartbreak as a teenager when they would nearly yell bigoted bullshit about “the homosexuals” when I had friends in the community who where some of the kindest most compassionate, open, inclusive loving people I’ve met to this day.

The Four of Wands is about community celebration. It is about lifting others up.

And it can be about embracing those who were rejected by their birth families because of who they authentically are. I love those “I’m your mom / dad now” memes supporting lgbtqia kids who are rejected by their own families. Anybody the evangelicals reject is prolly my kind kind of people.

The Four of Wands is about celebration. Authenticity is something to celebrate. People living their truest life is a profoundly happy thing. A lack of self esteem can make us more prone to bias or worse (a 2011 article on psychologialscience.org is one quick example) Confidence is fuel for compassion. Pride in ourselves breeds compassion for others which leads to pride in those around us which creates acceptance which seeds even more self esteem and so it goes. Pride not only isn’t a sin, it arguably makes the world a better place.

Pride month is a lesson for all of us. It is hard to hate others when you are comfortable with yourself. Those of us with privilege are exponentially more responsible to protect and celebrate and uplift Pride Month.

I used to think that my experience of leaving evangelical religion and coming out as a tarot reading, science loving, Taoist, atheist and witch gave me a teeny tiny partial keyhole glimpse into what it is like for the lgbtqia+ community on both sides of the closet door.

If there is anything at all I’ve learned from Pride month about being a good ally, it’s that being an ally doesn’t have any fucking thing to do with me. Pride month for an ally is about being proud of other people – proud of the people we care about.

If you are living an authentic and kind life – I am proud of you.

Celebrate who you authentically are. Celebrate everyone else’s authentic self too. But don’t let the celebratory pride slip into the self-centered pride. Pride and a safe and welcoming place is something for every month, not just big business June advertising. Although I kinda like all the rainbow tshirts. And the one big burger place donating a portion of their chicken sandwich profits (including Sunday sales) to a lgbtqia+ organization to troll the anti-equality uber christians that run that other chicken place. I’m all the way down with that particular cororporate move.

I celebrate with you because I’m proud of you and who you really are.

All are welcome here.