Tag: coffee

Have an OK Holiday

Happy Festivus to all who celebrate!

Personally, I love a holiday that is open to anyone and everyone and no one gives a flying hootenanny how you celebrate. Good food. A plain pole. A stack of beer cans. It’s all good.

The Ten of Wands speaks to obligations that we put on ourselves, and the blockages, challenges and obstacles of our own making

Releasing holiday obligations that we put on ourselves (and that can kindle resentments) is its own kind of transformative holiday magic. Letting go of the things that no longer serve others OR yourself may be a little emotionally wrenching or guilt-ridden, especially during the winter holidays, but it makes room for something new, something joyous.

It’s been said that traditions are simply allowing ourselves to be held hostage by dead people. There is some truth to that. But there is also a a great truth that sameness and tradition can be extremely valuable and comforting in turbulent times. The more things suck now, the more we need comforting things like favorite movies and holiday traditions.

Especially those traditions that contain more meaning than money.

It’s OK to keep the perfect from being the enemy of the good.

I wish you the happiest OK holiday season.

See you at the next sip!

MEMBERS: read more here.

Sage Sips blog on TaoCraftTarot.com is always free to read, including the YEARS of archived Tarot readings, Q&A, how-to, and behind the scenes. This blog is supported by Tarot fans like you on Ko-Fi. Membership on Ko-Fi includes private email Tarot readings on request and exclusive content not found anywhere else.

Private readings by email are also available on Ko-Fi as a thank you for supporting Sage Sips, where you get Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee

Weekend Oracle: Listen In The Dark

Sage Sips is a free tarot blog that gives you daily meditation style tarot in the time it takes to sip your #coffee. Support me on Ko-Fi where the proceeds from private readings and memberships all support the cost to produce Sage Sips. You can join (for free tarot readings) or get private readings HERE on Ko-fi.

Listen to your intuition even if it is telling you something uncomfortable

Left: That Which Lies Beneath. Sometimes what we need to know is so suppressed, so uncomfortable, so disturbing that we can’t fully admit it to ourselves. In those times, our instincts may manifest simply as a vague sense of “not right” “just off” “not myself” or something just beyond words. Those messages are as deserving as any other – perhaps more so. In these times the why behind the vague feeling is more important than ever. This card is a loud call to understand your motives and the reason WHY you feel and act as you do.

Right: The Alleyman. We are the artists collective of humanity. We are all connected in our shared human-being-ness and our shared experience of life on planet Earth in the early 21st century. There is, there can be, connections that are fleeting but significant. The moment of niceness you feel when a stranger holds a door, or a smile passing on the sidewalk, a grocery clerk who is helpful and friendly, a barrista joking with customers, anything. If that collective of kindness, those fleeting moments are called “the alleyman” we can both be helped by The Alleyman and we can BE the Alleyman. We are the Alleyfolk, the collective of kindness and intuitive wisdom. Look for the Alleyman. Be the Alleyman for someone who you might never know.

This concept is exactly why I’m such a fan of The Alleyman’s Tarot and the Alleyway oracle deck used here. Always grateful to Seven Dane Asmund, author, creator and publisher, for permission to use these decks. Check out  ⁨his new project, a collection of short stories set in the universe of the Alleyman Tarot and its podcast. Please visit Publishing Goblin on backerkit for more details.

Action Eases Anxiety (9 Nov 25)

Fall and Winter hours and posting schedule: none. At all.

Sage Sips is in full pirate radio mode, popping up whenever. Some days may or may not make it over to other platforms. Following the blog here is the only way to get absolutely everything.

All of this merry tarot madness is brought to you by my love of the tarot art, a big cup of and all the tarot fans like you who support me on Ko-Fi Private Tarot readings by email are OPEN and available to order 24/7/365. Please allow at least 2-3 business days for delivery – I have a day job and Tarot isn’t a business for me.

All ko-fi proceeds go toward the cost to create and web host this blog.

The “Action Eases Anxiety” layout was inspired by Buddhist philosophy (I HIGHLY recommend Dan Harris’ Substack) and my “Learn With Me” series about Lenormand Tarot.

The layout is like a sentence…a noun and a verb. It represents the current energy, then what to do about it. It isn’t a prediction or a quick fix, but making an action plan like this takes the edge of worries. Any tarot reading can help us focus on the moment at hand, not what may or may not happen in the future. That in itself can help ease worry.

What it is (left card): Ace of Cups, reversed. Something is leaking or spilling. Where are your emotions being spent uselessly? Where is your creative energies being wasted? What fucks are you giving that would be better not to give, or to at least give somewhere else?

What to do (right card): Ten of Wands. Put down responsibilities that aren’t really yours. Remember that you can show the way, but you can’t walk through the door for someone else. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink. Your happiness is your responsibility, no one else’s. No one can give it to you, but equally, no one can take it from you unless you give it away.

Thanks for reading and watching! See you at the next sip!

Deck: Alleyman’s Tarot by Seven Dane Asmund, used with permissions Publishing Goblin LLC

Squirrels – 365 Ducks – 0

I just deleted a Tajitu layout that’s been dangling on the YouTube channel with almost no explanation and no associated post for nearly a week. Click HERE to read today’s brand new Taijitu layout for this week.

Clearly, filming the cards in the morning and writing the blog in the evening isn’t going to work.

That’s it. I’m done.

I’m done trying to promote what I do. If a message or idea is meant for you, it will find you one way or another no matter what I do – or don’t. If my post doesn’t find you, another one with the same message will. If I’m the right psychic for your Tarot reading – you’ll find me. If nobody wants or needs my readings, ok – I’ll use that time for other writing. Or knitting. Or baking cookies. If somebody wants this kind of Tarot, I’m right here, same as always.

That being said, I choose to move forward in harmony with the mysterious. I intend for all of our highest and best. If you intend for your highest and best, just try and stop it from landing in your lap. Cue that old Blondie song. If you want it, your life’s calling will find you one way or another, whatever it may be, (even if it is something you never imagined before, like being a Taoist, witch and email Tarot reader.)

Plus, I dunno who made the original, but the ducks and squirrels thing should get a truth in memes award….

Raving Squirrels – 365, Line Ducks – 0

No more schedules. Tarot happens when it happens.

Why ?

This isn’t a scam. This isn’t even a freelance business anymore. I have a day job. It isn’t my ‘dream’ to make a living doing Tarot. My dream is for doing Tarot readings for people to remain part of my life’s work.

What I want to do Tarot for people who are looking for a spiritually advanced, emotionally mature, responsible style of reading. I want to help people, and be fairly compensated for my time, decades of experience and expertise. At the same time, I want you to get a quality, highly professional reading in return for your time, attention and money. That’s what ‘fair energy exchange’ is really about.

THUS and therefore….I’m going full pirate radio for real this time. Stay tuned for random Tarot goodnesses: collective readings, behind the scenes, how to DIY read tarot and, if you use the AMA form, lots of free Tarot Q&A. Please follow the YouTube channel, this blog, the Substack (or all three) and you won’t miss a thing, no matter how random and chaotic it all gets. You’ll still get authentic collective energy Tarot from a reader with 30 years of experience, inspired by intuition – not marketing, not a schedule, not a money making bottom line. And you get all of that for FREE, but with a side order of hope that you’ll buy a paid private reading, too.

If you want something private and personalized, that’s not drawn from the collective energy: Hit my Ko-fi page for some of the most genuine, authentic and affordable email Private Tarot readings on the webber tubes.

Thank you for listening to my fifty-umpteenth void screaming TED talk about Tarot on the internet otherwise entitled I’m not a scam, I’m just tired of the scammy BS I keep seeing out there.

See you at the next random, unscheduled, rant-free Tarot-only sip!

Read more: The Tao of Finding a Psychic (or a tarot reader you can trust)

Policies Page (not a business anymore, but I’m still professional, transparent & up front about this stuff)

Rave on my squirrels!

Taijitu, Take Deux

Taijitu layout

Energy moving toward you: King of Wands

Energy moving away from you: Death

How to move forward in harmony with it all: Five of Cups

The energies are ripe for you to rediscover your true self, remember the things you genuinely love, and embrace all of the things that actually make you happy – to hell with what other people think or if it makes money. (Am taking my own advice there – hence the void scream)

Happy is valuable. A moment of joy is priceless.

The past year of death-card change and chaos energy is finally starting to move away. Things are still weird, but you are adapting to the weird and making friends with your inner demons. Adapting and rolling with whatever happens makes adapting and rolling feel like home.

Loss and release is sometimes necessary to make room for something better.

This is a perfect week for shadow work, very in keeping with the season. Don’t bury your dark side. Make friends with it, and make your light and dark combination greater than the sum of the parts. There is magic to be made in killing the past (a la Kylo Ren) to become who you really are. There is no part of you so bad that there isn’t someone who has been there with you at some point. There is no part of you so dark that you are excluded from the human race.

Dark is necessary for light to shine. Or as my favorite Affordable Floors song says – there is no calm without the storm.

Embrace the dark as a place to let your light shine.

Thanks for watching! See you at the next sip!

Deck: Alleyman’s Tarot by Seven Dane Asmund, used with permission ‪@publishinggoblin1072‬

“Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. It’s the only way to become what you were meant to be”

‘Kylo Ren’ in Star Wars: The Last Jedi written by Rian Johnson

Action Eases Anxiety: Salt Your Soup

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In this layout, the cards reflect the current energies and suggests a good next step – what it is and what to do. Having an idea and making a plan of action can take the edge off of worry.

Page of Wands: Pages are associated with learning. Learning requires taking in information. “Get the lay of the land” comes through here. Observe, attempt gently, feel your way forward gradually.

Four of Pentacles: Sometimes this is associated with hoarding or greed. Sometimes it is about a hidden treasure, protected. However you read it, it is a conservative, cautious energy. Proceed, but with great thought and care. This isn’t the time for all out, willy-nilly, thoughtless impulse.

Start slow, you can always hit the gas once you have merged safely onto the highway. Start with a little salt in your soup, you can add more if it’s needed but you can’t take it out. Salt your metaphoric soup a little at a time.

Week Ahead Tarot: Unlock the Path

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THREE OF CUPS ( reversed ): Don’t be afraid to be the quiet one in the group. Be in an environment of like minded people even if you aren’ts feeling social. Now is a time to find and band together with your tribe, not to try and fit in.

DEATH (reversed) : What decision are you avoiding? Face the life – changing decision, make it, act on it. Life is change. Even if you CHOOSE to stay the same, make it a deliberate choice in order to unlock your best path forward.

Thanks for reading. I appreciate you! See you at the next sip!

The Devil’s in More Than the Details

The Devil isn’t just in the details…it’s all over the darn place.

Life isn’t always pretty, so Tarot isn’t always pretty. Sometimes the best thing a reading can do for us is break through walls of denial, yank the rose colored glasses off of our faces and set some jade ones into their place.

The Devil card from the major arcana is the ultimate card for that aspect of Tarot. It’s up in your face with cold, harsh reality -usually just when you need it most. It isn’t a call to fear. It is a call to courage.

There are reasons why positivity can go toxic. If there is nothing but light you are just as blinded as you are in pitch dark. It takes both light and shadow to see.

The Devil card’s reminder of the dark side can vary anywhere from the common sense to the dire and dramatic. The purpose isn’t to scare you – the purpose is to put you on an appropriate level of guard. Have batteries in the flashlight when a storm is forecast. Park in well lit areas and have your keys ready as you go to your car. Have the hard conversation with your significant other. Admit people you care about have the capacity to make bad political choices – and sometimes do.

There are gnarly things out there in the world. The Devil card reminds us that there are people out there who really don’t have your best interest at heart and this might be a good moment to take stock, face facts, and be safe.

Week Ahead Tarot: Teams and Dreams

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Hello and happy almost September! I’m loving the cooler weather we’ve had this week! In honor of not feeling like we’re trudging through a flaming planetary death hellscape, back to roughly normal posting.

Today is a choose your own card Tarot for the week ahead. Pause the video if you want more time to think. Choose the card that feels right to you and tah-DA! You just got a free Tarot reading. It doesn’t matter if you choose before or after you see the cards and meanings. It is still intuitive discernment. It is your own good intuition deciding if one card, the other card, neither one or both are right for you.

ACE OF PENTACLES: Rest easy. Enjoy the simple pleasures that are already at hand. Contentment is a great treasure. Give yourself the freedom to dream a little while enjoying everything just exactly the way it is right now. If everything seems dark or dreadful, open your perspective. You might be missing something and focusing on one thing too much.

THREE OF PENTACLES: You got this. You are strong and capable, but you still don’t have to do everything alone. Enjoy being a strong, happy part of the team. It doesn’t mean you are weak. It might just mean you are the leader.

Fall Schedule

As always, there is none. Family first, always. When and what gets posted depends on the IRL day job. Here is the plan that fully expect to go off the rails:

Sage Sips Blog

  • Always free to read! No paywall!
  • Sunday/Monday: Week ahead interactive choose your own card readings
  • Wednesday: Action Eases Anxiety readings
  • Thursday/Friday: Weekend Oracle
  • Random behind the scenes and Q&A

Private Tarot Readings

  • Order anytime 24/7 no appointment needed
  • Email only: includes a photo of your real – world card layout. No AI here – only 30 years of Tarot experience.
  • Four layouts available starting at $10 total cost (no per minute charges)
  • Proceeds support the cost to produce the blog.

Memberships on Ko-fi

  • Sage Sips membership $5/month: One free Tarot reading by email each calendar month at your request – choose your layout (five card, year ahead, three card taijitu, three card yes-or-no, one card meditation)
  • Sage Answers $3/month: One free yes-or-no Tarot reading by email at your request.
  • Both tiers get DM access to request your readings
  • Both tiers get random special offers and exclusive content.
  • Proceeds support the cost to produce the blog

Thanks for reading! See you at the next sip!

The Dregs of Summer

It’s August

Late August

I don’t like summer, especially the ass-end of it when my patience with blazing sun, heat and humidity is long gone. There is always a little bit of an energy shift when dog days end, even more so around the 21st when we are closer to the end of the season. It is the glimpse of cool darkness at the end of a blazing white hot tunnel if you’ll pardon the color-flipped metaphor.

Maximum yang, like peak summer heat, demands a healthy dose of yin in response. All this summering asks for some resting. Rest doesn’t have to be a full on vacation or a power nap (although a power nap is ALWAYS a good thing when you can manage it.) Sometimes it is just a matter of cutting yourself a little bit of slack. Take your foot off the gas on the downhill, if that makes any sense of it.

That’s what I’m doing for a few weeks. I’m retreating to my cyberspace comfort zone instead of taking the usual full break from the Internet. My basic plan is to drag some stuff out of the archives to post and do a basic re-set here on the blogs and newsletter. It’s time to collect myself and get ready for fall, that most wonderful time of the year.

Happy Pumpkin Spice Everything to those who celebrate!

PS – Private readings by email are ALWAYS OPEN, sabbatical, real holiday, fake pumpkin spice holiday or otherwise! Order your private email Tarot reading 24/7, no appointment needed HERE