Today we are using the Normal Tarot deck by Seven Dane Asmund in the Action Eases Anxiety layout.
What it is: The Fifth of Winter (peak of the test)
What to do: The Masterless Knight (wild card)
How to do it: The Courteous King (tragedy and compassion)
I am reminded of the old adage that “Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it is taking action in spite of it.”
This old meaning of courage is important in these new times.
These cards hint that things are just as bad as they seem. Denial serves no good purpose. The old ways are gone, beyond repair.
The only way forward is to create something new, something courageous and something profoundly compassionate. Here I ‘hear’ the song “Miss Couragous” by the 1990s band The Nixon Clocks.
Old institutions can no longer guide us. I ‘hear’ “religion must fall.” Given my personal background, this feels particularly directed at American evangelicals. May they become social pariahs.
Find your own unique way. You are the king of your own inner kingdom but with no control or dominion over other people. Rule your inner world with wisdom and compassion. Compassion directed toward yourself and toward others.
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I like to think it’s a writer’s thing.
I call it the niggles when a thought captures your creative imagination and keeps poking at you until you write it. The Ten of Swords has been a little like that the past couple of days.
I originally wrote Action Eases Anxiety as a 2 card layout showing, essentially, what it is and what to do. The cards describe current energies and give a suggestion about how to best navigate them. My thought was to add a third card …. a how-to-do-it card, which would flesh out the sentence, and let the layout echo parts of speech: subject-verb-object in a vague sort of way.
The new, third card was the 10 of swords and it prompted an avalanche of random sayings and platitudes plus a bonus earworm of a song from one of my favorite albums back in the day. It all pointed toward the 10 of swords keyword surrender. Often this surrender is the wave a white flag and admit defeat kind that the dire-looking Pamela Smith artwork would indicate.
In this case the surrender word has a different connotation. It is more like acceptance but not acquiescence. There is an element of going with the flow that we see in the six of swords, but with a much more disturbing undercurrent and context than the six would carry. This card connects to the previous reading in a way the six could not.
Surrender is a way to persist.
Someone on Twitter several years ago captured the absolute essence of this card as it presents today. I can’t remember who it was, but I want to say it was author Chuck Wendig in his You Can Do Anything, Magic Skeleton era. Whoever it was, they described the Ten of Swords something like “yeah, you are laying on the floor in utter defeat, but while you are down there you look under the sofa and find the car keys you lost two weeks ago.”
Today, the so-called negative aspects of the card are only negative or bad from a hyper active, frenetic, pushing, over-achieving point of view. Sure, it’s bad from an all-yang sort of perspective. If you look at it from a more yin-balanced perspective, surrender IS persisting.
Surrender lets you understand your situation and deal with it honestly and rationally (after all, intellect is a swords thing.)
A psychiatrist at a hospital where I worked a long time ago once said that “the decision not to decide is still a decision.”
So by that same token, waiting and watching IS doing something.
Yes, it’s true that if you wait for the perfect time to do something you’ll never do it because the time is never perfect, BUT timing can be better if not perfect. Waiting for perfect is the problem – being thoughtful and strategic is not (again a swords / air / intellect thing)
Surrender and retreat isn’t defeat, it is advancing in a new direction.
“He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day.”
Adaptation is survival, and that is the key to persisting in this energy.
The Action Eases Anxiety layout gives us a look at the current energy for today or the week. It shows what the energy is, then suggests a good way to deal with it. Whenever you have some small bit of understanding and an action plan, those ideas together can ease anxiety and worry a little bit. It’s no grand prediction about what will happen, but a solid suggestion how to move through this current energy with a little bit more peace of mind.
Like I’ve always said: Tarot isn’t about predicting what will happen in life – Tarot is for figuring out what to do when life happens.
What it is: New Moon (reversed) – fragile potential
What to do: Five of Winter – persist
There is much potential around you, but it can be easily thwarted. Don’t sell yourself short. Persist. Don’t bail out just when the worst is about to be over.
I ‘hear’ (meaning the intuitive interpretation comes as words or sounds instead of mental images) “It can’t rain all the time” from the 1994 movie version of The Crow.
I am also reminded or the adage to not change horses mid stream.
Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Don’t snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
It’s also said that it’s darkest before the dawn. Don’t give up just before the sun peeks over the horizon.
Just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it isn’t worth doing.
And all the platitudes and proverbs like that.
In other words, yes it’s hard. Yes it’s a mess. Hope is over the crest of the next wave. Don’t wimp out at the last minute. Dig deep you’ll make it over the crest of the biggest wave sooner or later.
shown: The Normal Tarot deck by Seven Dane Asmund, used with permission. Learn more at publishinggoblin.com
Over the past several months I have been given images and messages about letting go, moving on, releasing what no longer serves.
That especially included romance Tarot questions which always makes people hurt and angry, understandable so. Heartbreak and loneliness are some of life’s sufferings that no one wants to experience.
Still, there is a tiny glint of encouragement, a little bit of shimmer among the ashes.
Astrology isn’t my strong suit, but according to internet memes, things are turning a corner, at least on individual levels. I’m not touching world events here. If I can give a little encouragement on an individual by individual basis, that’s plenty enough of a win. Encouraged individuals are then a little bit more resilient and able to speak and resist and do whatever else we can in the flaming, toxic social / political environment that has been dropped in our collective lap through no fault of our own.
public social media, creator unknown
I don’t know if it has anything to do with anything, but my sun, moon, and rising signs are all on this particular list. They are on to something with this meme. I was really feeling it when I wrote the Standing in the Ashes post a few days ago and can personally relate to that post.
Since I have a full time day job now and have had to remake my professional Tarot practice into something entirely different, I am basically standing in the ashes of 20+ years of work. If you resonated with that post – me too.
This corner-turning energy that has cropped up this week in spite of world events really does beg the question of NOW WHAT. Now that we’ve done the hard things, now that we are standing in the ashes of the bridges we’ve burned, what are we going to do?
Here is where the encouragement part comes in.
Reading Tarot isn’t just about the cards. To be really good at it, you also have to draw in present-moment intuition that relates to the person, situation and energy of the moment at hand when you are doing a reading.
Last week was one of those weeks where I wrote for the blog in bits, little times fit in between other necessary things. It was interesting to see the energy shift even as I was working on a post about a single card here and there over the course of the week.
The day after the post published two days ago, the mental image the card prompted came back to mind, but with a subtle but important change.
The figure on the card was facing a different direction. Not back the way he came, but at a different angle than is on the card. There was less water, no cups (symbolizing less emotional upset, more clarity, and a greater sense of calm)
Most of all, the ground was all grey, like the ashes in the post BUT with a silver and gold shimmer. It reminded me of the simulated moon dust from an old episode of Mythbusters but with the tiny glitter they add to nail polish mixed in.
Yeah, everything has been burned to ash, but that ash is shimmering with potential. The shimmer is new, compared to the same mental image from writing the other post a few days ago
The Standing In The Ashes post put the onus of rebuilding on us. Then the energy was reminding us that our intention matters. Causes have effects and we are the cause of our next experiences. It’s a little bit of a dark and burdensome message, but there is no light without the shadow. Or as Carl Jung wrote “…the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.”
Yes it is our responsibility to choose what we do next as we stand among the ashes of the past. Yesterday is gone…so what shall we do today to make tomorrow better?
The shimmer reminds us that among the loss, among the ashes is great potential. The ashes remind us that the same old Phoenix is there is we choose to let them rise. But the shimmer reminds us that change is forever present. Change is life. We can choose the Phoenix that rises this time.
image public domain via Wikipedia commons @lychee532
Over the past several months I have been given images and messages about letting go, moving on, and releasing what no longer serves.
That especially included the Valentines Day and romance Tarot questions – which always makes people hurt and angry, understandable so. Heartbreak and loneliness are some of life’s suffering that no one wants to experience.
Still, there is a tiny glint of encouragement, a little bit of shimmer among the ashes…
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I don’t know if this is an actual thing out there or just what I’m doing in my little world, but it seems like this the year for dialing it all down. Eat the rich, screw the capitalism, forget the elaborate bougie over the top holidays…it’s about the small, thoughtful and meaningful.
That’s about all that’s affordable these days, anyway.
So maybe it’s the year for some real talk about Tarot. I have nothing to promote, nothing to sell and no one to persuade. If you want a reading with me, great. Support me on Ko-Fi where the proceeds go toward creating Sage Sips and keeping it ad-free. If you don’t want a tarot reading, cool. Keep reading the blog instead. But don’t complain to me if you don’t like the free advice.
Valentine’s Day seems like a good place to start. This is the year for a construction-paper card, a single carnation or a box of chalky conversation hearts.
Love, romance and relationships are a fundamental, important part of being human. Tarot can be wonderfully helpful as we think and feel our way through relationships of every type and definition. It’s incredibly important and it’s no wonder that romance is one of the most asked Tarot Reading questions.
From the beginning, from the very first readings I did professionally in the early 2000’s, I’ve defined Tarot cards in terms of relationships. The major arcana is our relationship with personal growth and life as a whole. Pentacles are our relationship with career, money and the physical realm. Swords are our relationship with authority, culture and society.) Wands are our relationship with ourselves in terms of spirituality, passions, philosophy and so on. Cups are our closest relationships, the ones of emotion and heart, of romance, family and friendship. The suit of cups are Tarot’s Valentine cards, in a way. This feels like the year to turn romantic Tarot readings on its head, like the two of cups reversed.
It’s no wonder that romance readings are the trickiest to do. As good as Tarot is at dealing with deep emotions of a romantic relationship, they are really shitty at dealing with the superficial, outward aspects of it.
How to deal with a broken heart? How do you deal with loneliness? How do you get on the path to a meaningful relationship? How do you shine your light so that special someone can find you? How can you play your part in the relationship you have and help make it last?
Tarot readings can help work through those things.
When will you meet the love of your life? Will your ex come back? Is this the year the big relationship will happen? – No idea. Tarot readings, at least the ones that stem from subtle energy and intuition (spirit if you will) are silent when it comes to that type of thing.
How to find the love of your life?
Simple. LOVE YOUR LIFE.
If you aren’t happy with life without someone, how can you be happy with life with
Think about it.
Think about the type of person you want to be romantically involved with.
Is that person all wrapped up in how lonely they are and preoccupied with wondering when the right relationship will come along –
OR is the partner you envision happy, healthy, and engaged with their life as it is?
Sometimes, the best way to find your soulmate is to let go of the notion of ever having one. Sometimes the best way to find your soulmate is to stop looking for them and be the person you want to have in your life.
When it comes to Tarot Readings, it isn’t about if and when you will meet that special someone. It’s about the how.
Like attracts like. Happy attracts happy. Love attracts love.
Happiness isn’t at your fingertips. It’s inside them.
Looking for happiness is like trying to buy a one of a kind item that you already own. Or to paraphrase the adage Mark Salzman references in Iron and Silk – looking for happiness is like looking for the donkey you are already riding on.
Only you can decide what, if anything, makes you happy. Only you can decide if and when you are happy. No one can else can make you happy – only you.
And if that is true, then no one else can take your happiness away.
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
I’m loving the Alleyman card today – mostly because I am in my happy place, at home drinking coffee, watching the Olympics and knitting.
Very often, the Four of Wands is associated with community celebrations in support of the family or individuals within that community – think birthday parties, weddings or baby showers.
Sometimes there is a sense of sanctuary, with some sort of shelter in the art work, be it open and symbolic or a literal structure. The Pamela Smith RWS deck artwork shows both a wedding chupah and a fortress or castle.
The open shelter images also give a sense of a portal or a gateway. This kind of energy doesn’t come as often as the other, but it steps forward today.
Today is the most optimistic week-ahead energy I’ve felt in a long time.
I hear “ripe with potential.”
I know, I know – that’s not the exact adage, but I’m not going to go all grammar police on the powers that be. I hate pedantry.
I also get “opportunities are what we make of them.”
This isn’t the time to let up. Keep up the pressure. When the christofascists rock back on their heels even a little bit…push harder.
Doors can be shown, doors can be opened, but we can’t walk through them for another.
We must each walk through each door for ourselves.
Or shove unwanted energies out of them.
It is a week of portals and possibilities.
It’s up to you what to draw in, push out or walk through.
Deck in video: Alleyman’s Tarot by Seven Dane Asmund, used with permission Publishing Goblin LLC
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One thing hasn’t changed with this new year.
I don’t have ducks, I don’t have rows. I have squirrels and they are hosting a rave.
I made a playlist. Doesn’t mean the squirrels of life are going to spin any of it, but here is the plan even though I won’t be surprised if it goes off the rails as plans so often do.
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