CURRENT ENERGY: The Tower. You can’t control the world, but you are 100% in control of how you respond to it. Don’t pray for protection or to be given something. Pray instead for the strength and resources to keep yourself safe, to make or create the things you want.
WHAT TO DO: The Stork. This is the birth of something new and different. Change strategies. DO things differently to get different or better results. This is it. It’s your time to step up and do what you need to do for your own well being and those you love. Now is a good time to be the change you want to see in your inner world, and maybe the outer one too.
Happy New Year! Thanks for reading in 2025! I hope you will stick around for 2026 too. Sage Sips Tarot blog will stay free to read, no paywall at all, supported by Tarot fans like you.
2025 was a helluva year or a lot of folks individually not to mention the collective energy here in what was the United States. Inspired by my favorite meditation teacher, Dan Harris (inner peace, motherfuckers!) “Action Eases Anxiety” is stepping forward as a key idea for the new year. What is that David Axelrod quote? “Everything you can do is all you can do” or something like that. If we do all we can, then whatever happens we can also rest easy without regrets knowing we did everything possible. Then we can regroup, re-plan, re-relieve any new anxieties and try again as needed without beating up on ourselves about it.
Given that energy, I’m setting aside the usual prediction-tinged “Season” layout and bringing back what I used to call the “Timeflow” layout or some such thing. For 2026, I think a better name might be “Action Plans Ease Anxiety” I’ve re-worked the layout meanings to be a more substantial version of the two card Lenormand “Action Eases Anxiety” layout.
Understanding a problem is key to solving it, yes. But that kind of understanding is the foundation of any Tarot work, really, not predictions. I’ve said it before and I’m going to keep saying it…Tarot doesn’t tell you what is going to happen in life, Tarot helps you know what to do when life happens. This year the plan is to post primarily daily meditation readings, two card Lenormand action eases anxiety readings, and these larger Time Flow / Action Plan (I need to come up with a better name for this thing. PLEASE – feel free to leave suggestions in the comments!)
Anyway, here is today’s layout with the intention behind each card position
The general pattern of any layout holds its own message over an above the meanings of the individual cards. It can give context to the individual cards or it can be a whole message in and of itself within the context of the reading.
Today this is a whole-assed message, almost independent of everything else. Three out of the four cards are major arcana. This is nothing short of a loud buckle up buttercup we are going for a ride.
High energy doesn’t mean bad energy. I ‘hear’ “glimpse of recovery” as if the high energy is re-energizing more than doom-saying. I see sunny gold light and a clover lawn. (Bonus points – look up the clover card in the Lenormand deck). The level expanse of clover makes me thing that the energy and dynamics are all ‘under the hood’ Earlier today @spiralseatarot on Threads posted about the common wand image on the Magician and three other cards. In numerology, 2026 is a ONE year (2+0+2+6 = 10 and 1+0 = 1) The magician is typically numbered 1 in the RWS style Tarot decks, a magic wand echoes the shape of the number one. Both last night and this morning I coincidentally looked at the clock at 11:11. Wands in Tarot are self, and the element of fire. Be mindful and prepared and ready to control the fire, but in the end the Phoenix of 2026 rises from the ashes of 2025.
Part of me thinks all of that sounds a little psychotic. The bigger, intuitive part thinks we are being hit over the head with a message to “rekindle the fire within.”
The “Hold It Tight” card is about the things that are beneficial, helpful or very much needed in this moment – but might have been flying under your reader. This is an idea to pull out of the shadows, embrace and USE.
Here we see the Emperor. I’m not very knowledgeable when it comes to Norse Mythology, but I’m getting an Odin vibe here. That is the face to put on the Emperor card in this context. BE YOUR OWN ODIN. I don’t remember the author, but read on social media from a pagan themed feed that the typical christian-ish prayer mindset was to pray asking for protection and safety from diety, while the Nordic pagan mindset was to pray and ask for the strength and resources to protect ourselves. That is the message of the Emperor today. It is a reminder that what we need can be available. We aren’t going to be rescued, but we can / will be able to get the strength, wisdom, and resources to help ourselves and those around us. Hold tight to that strategy and mindset.
“Let It Go” is just exactly that – release the things that no longer serve so those things can move to another place to help and serve others. Don’t carry what you no longer need to carry. Release makes space for better things to fill in.
Here we see The Sun – happiness. This is a very Buddha – like paradox. Let go of happiness…to find happiness?
Yup.
It’s not the happiness you are letting go…it’s the searching, striving and TRYING to be happy that has to go.
Stop trying to be happy and stop relying on something or someone in order to be happy. Stop the search for happiness…and just be happy right here, right now with things just as they are in SPITE of everything being just as they are right now. Let go of finding happiness, and just BE whatever you are. It’s like the old Tshirt…Smile. It makes everyone wonder what you are up to.
Or, as Mark Salzberg wrote in Iron and Silk, “There is a saying that it’s the height of stupidity to look for the donkey that you’re already riding on.”
If you spend your time and effort looking for happiness, you never find the happiness that has been riding around inside you the whole time.
“Queue It Up” is like the green room for a TV guest on a talk show, or the on-deck circle for the next batter in a baseball game. This is a growing energy, that is close at hand but not quite in its time just yet. Timing is a theme here, combined with a message to trust your own instincts. This tells you what would be good to carry in your back pocket…your intuition will tell you better than anything when is the right time to deploy this action or this idea. “Queue it up” is something to prepare so you can use it when your intuition says the time is right.
In this case we see our third major arcana card, The Fool. The thing we are preparing is ourselves. All of this manifesting and ash-rising might require a little agility. You might be asked to start something new on spur of the moment. A chance, a leap of faith might crop up in this year’s energy environment, and this card is advising us to keep a little openness, adaptability and willingness to say yes to the unexpected in our pocket so we can take advantage of any sudden, unexpected but excellent opportunities.
Finally we come to the card of the moment. THIS is the idea whose time has come. This is where to focus our energy and attention right NOW. This has an element of release, too, being located right next to our “let it go” card…but this isn’t something to release, but rather something to ALLOW – this is the task at hand, and the flow to roll with.
Being the only minor arcana card gives two hints….that this nonthreatening. It isn’t the big Major arcana energy…it’s going to be ok. Trust. Flow.
Also this is the path of least resistance right now. Fighting the flow might be exhausting. Let it be easy for a few minutes. Not everything has to be filled with effort and striving. Here we get an echo of the previous Sun card’s message.
The ten of pentacles is also a card of happiness. True happiness, and appreciation and gratitude for all that money can’t buy. This is the donkey. This is the happiness we already have that we can only find when we let go of all the striving and looking and trying.
Here I am giving another pop culture reference. It echoes the social media reference to praying for strength over being protected because strength can be used to protect ourselves and those we love as well.
In the TV adaptation of Neil Gaimon’s American Gods, a character said that is the difference between his (Muslim?) prayer and that of the typical American – we pray to be given stuff, while in his tradition they pray to give thanks for what they already have.
Sit with that idea for a while. It is a game changer.
In summary, no one is saving us this year. This is the year when we learn to save ourselves. This isn’t the year when someone or something will make us happy – this is the year when we stop looking for happiness and can discover it was there all along.
Where ever or however you find it, I wish you a year of peace, health, and happiness.
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.
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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.
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.
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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
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.
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!
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.
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.
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 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.
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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