Tag: coffee

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

Week Ahead Tarot: Guard and Listen

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Pause the video if you need time to think, but there is no wrong choice. Even if you choose after the reveal, or after reading both interpretations, or choose both or reject both – it is still your own good intuition that leads the way.

Hierophant: You are connected to the universe in whole. Inspiration comes to you from this greater source. Listen for spirit guidance.

Four of Pentacles: Be on guard. Protect what you have and watch for opportunity. “A bird in hand in worth two in a bush” as the adage goes

Yoink, Yeet, Calm

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Sage Sips is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee in the form of a free, no ads, no paywall Tarot blog supported by readers like you on ko-fi.com. Private reading orders are open 24/7, no appointment needed.

A friend gifted me with the Kawaii Tarot, so I’ve been getting to know it. It has a succinct, pithy quality as Zen, peaceful and minimalist as the illustration. The guidebook is clear and simple too – great for a beginning Tarot reader, but feels a little lightweight for more practiced clairvoyants. I’ve only started exploring it, so time will tell.

In any case it seems to be oddly in your face and to the point for something with such cutesy pictures. It shares a vibe with my Lenormand Tarot deck in that respect.

In any case, that Zen-ness inspired the idea to do a Taijitu layout with them. The taijitu layout was inspired by the yin/yang symbol (the taijitu) combined with a three card pathway Tarot spread. The right side card is “yin” – energies that are moving inward or being drawn toward you. It’s the things you are yoinking into your life path right now. The middle card is yang, the energies moving outward, the image you are projecting or things you are (or maybe should be) yeeting off your path. The left card is balance…advice to move forward while creating and keeping your calm.

This deck throws down one word per card. I’ll try to put it into some nuanced context – but whatever YOUR reflex response to the word might be – use that. That individual reflex will take this from the realm of a collective energy reading into something much more personalized.

Yin – Five of Swords – “battle” It doesn’t feel like current conflict, but rather a risk of setting yourself up for conflict. We are at the end of a gently closing time that was potent for manifestation. This card is a caution to take care of the seeds you sow, take care to lay a good foundation. Don’t be combative, but actively prepare for defense or any battle that is unavoidably brought to you.

Yang – page of cups – “introspection” Don’t let the peaceful demeanor you give off be mistaken for being a doormat. Dream, but also do.

Balance – Justice – “fairness” As you balance defense and dreaming, planning and actions, be sure to be fair. Get the whole story. Be fair to others, but fair to yourself as well.

Stay tuned for more getting to know you readings with the Kawaii deck. Next up: week ahead tarot tomorrow or Monday afternoon.

Action Eases Anxiety: The More You Know

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Thanks for reading! The virtual coffee tip mug, private readings and memberships all support this no-paywall blog

The times are vibing with the Lenormand Deck, which inspired this two card layout in the first place. My experience with Lenomand resonated with a conversation I heard on “The Circle is Pod Cast” with Matt Auryn and Rachel True. Lenormand really is concise, direct, and often very sentence-like . That in turned this short subject/verb, what it is/what to do format.

What it is: CROSS. The liminal portal-like energy from last week continues. Think of this in religious terms if you must, but this energy is like crossROADS more than connected to any one religious viewpoint. This is a time of choices. Progress demands it. Linger here and become stuck, or choose well to manifest your next path for the highest good. This is a potent time. Use it well to set intentions, plant seeds, lay foundations.

What to do: Book Symbolic of both sacred mystery and deep learning, this is a reminder that learning isn’t always about logic and knowledge. Wisdom asks to be learned as well. Learn the way of your chosen spiritual path by reading, listening, finding a mentor. King of cups Tarot card comes to mind. Spirit guide energy is nearby to help, but you must still do the work and learn to find the best way for you as an individual to be a part of this energy and flow with this powerful time.

Sage Sips is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee.