Tag: coffee

Tools of the Inner Trade

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee. Today: the page of wands and learning along the spiritual path.

Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.

I’m a big fan of freethinking. I recommend it. Free your mind, question everything and all of that. Those of you who know my background know that I’m a downright expert at parachuting out of organized dogma.

On the other hand, repetition and tradition can be deeply comforting, especially in times where it feels like the world is on fire and evil is winning. For some reason this reminds me of a quote from G.K Chesterton that I found browsing brainyquote.com once. Paraphrasing quote “A warrior fights not because he hates what is before him, but because he loves what is behind him.” End quote.

Forgive me if this is all a little circular and confusing. The energy is like that some days. Sometimes it is blunt, short and to the point like a frying pan in the face. Other times it is like a connect-the-dots puzzle or a Rube Goldberg machine. Today, instead of getting to the point, the energy is circling around and nabbing it from behind.

Page cards are connected with learning. They are the first step in training to be a knight. Historically, they were young boys which brings to mind brightness, curiosity, high energy and unbridled enthusiasm. Wands are associated with fire, passions, the inner world. Today it is particularly pointing toward our inner spiritual path. Part of the circling around to the point is to think about our chosen spiritual rituals and traditions. What is it that we turn to in times of emotional crisis? What is our go-to rock and foundation….it’s almost like the page is waving hello to the Hope card and the “Anchor Rock” post as it circles around to today’s point, if there is one.

The Pew Foundation does scientific, unbiased, highly reliable surveys. Their work on the religious landscape in America is interesting to say the least. It turns out that agnostics and atheists know quite a lot about religion in general compared to most other American adults. You can read more for yourself on the Pew Foundation website HERE. This takes a step closer to today’s message.

The next step after that is the famous Socrates quote “know thyself.”

Here is where we jump the card’s message from behind and wrestle it to the ground.

The Page of Wands asks us to know the tools of our chosen spiritual path.

I’m not talking about religious indoctrination or dogma. I’m allergic to that stuff. You will never hear any of that here.

I’m talking about the rituals and symbols and acts of your personal chosen spiritual path whatever that may be. This is talking about the ideas and philosophies that feed your soul, soothes your heart, lifts you up and makes you happy. If your religion does that for you, cool. This energy is talking about spirituality, which is a very different thing. Sometimes spiritual paths are shored up by ritual and tradition, too. The page is asking us to know our motives and symbolism and rituals and habits along our spiritual path. We are being asked to know the difference between the outward social trappings of religion and the physical realm expressions of our personal inner world. The page of wands is asking us to intellectually know our spirituality in addition to deeply and mindfully experiencing it.

When you are finding your own way in or if you are eclectic and solitary by nature, it is easy to reject tradition as stifling or constricting. The page reminds us to know before we throw so to speak. Knowing something well makes it all the more fulfilling when it is right for you. By the same token, you have to know something to some degree before you can rightly reject it.

Thank you for reading and listening. As the squirrels are raving at the moment, this should be the last late night post for a while. We should be back to posting late morning U.S. eastern time most weekdays. For the moment, anyway.

This blog and podcast are not monetized. Please visit the TaoCraft Tarot page on ko-fi. The shop, memberships and virtual coffees all support the creation of this (almost) daily Tarot content. There is a link in the episode description for podcast listeners. Thank you all so so so much.

See you at the next sip!

Reminder: there will be a short blog, pod, and socials hiatus the weekend of the July 4th holiday. Email readings will be OPEN throughout. You can order email readings 24/7 no appointment needed. Delivery times vary for orders placed nights (eastern time), weekends, & U.S. holidays

Back for a few days

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. See the real world card draw that inspires the day’s blog & podcast on YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Instagram reels before you see it here.

Links to or echos of blog posts are also available on Facebook, Tumblr and LinkedIn.

Short Sip posts and pods are most workdays, Monday through Friday.

Blog, pod and socials will be on short summer hiatus July 1-6, 2022.

Different Wealth

Gratitude doesn’t magically bring you what you want. Gratitude taks what you already have and transforms it into treasure. Contentment with the present moment is a different kind of wealth.

Hello and welcome to Tao Craft Short Sip: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is the Four of Disks from the Alleyman’s Tarot by Seven Dane Asmund, art by Dark Synevyr.

There is a strong sense of juxtaposition and contrast with the card and energy today. It’s like double vision in your mind’s eye of all freaky things. Ah well, it is Friday.

There is face value meaning here. Coin cards in general are associated with wealth, career, or our relationship with the physical realm.

The four of coins in particular (or the Four of disks, or pentacles or whichever name you prefer) is associated with being conservative and watching the budget. If the card is reversed it can mean the need to watch the budget because of low or dwindling resources. Taken to an extreme it can have a tone of hoarding and greed. In this case it has a tone of smart money management. It is about living within your means. It’s about making do and making more.

That’s the surface.

It also feels like there are watery depths here, like the deep inner wisdom we were talking about in the “It’s there” blog post and podcast episode a few days ago. The mental image is like one of those tiktok videos where they make fancy drinks or swirly color artwork with spheres of partially frozen, very clear ice. The surface of the ice they use is solid and crystal clear with a swirling, watery center. The energy with this card is a little like that.

On the surface we have solid practical advice: Use your money smarts. Mind the budget. This is a time to be practical with money and not frivolous. The energy is definitely not right for impulse buys.

Beneath that surface is something much more esoteric and spiritual. Beneath that is volumes about mindset, manifestation and how powerful thoughts and words can be.

It’s that glass half full, glass half empty thing.

Think about it. Or plunk a glass of water on the table and LOOK at it. What you think about glass doesn’t change the literal amount of water. 8 ounces is 8 ounces and 4 ounces is four ounces and what you think, feel or believe isn’t going to change that objective measure by one molecule.

The glass half full versus a glass half empty doesn’t have anything to do with the physical glass or water at all. It is all about words and perceptions and mental habits and emotional paradigms. Think about that glass of water. When you think of it as half empty, it creates a phantom. It alludes to water that that used to be there but is gone now. This way of thinking focuses on the empty space and what the glass doesn’t have when that extra volume may never have been there in the first place. What if the glass used to be only a quarter full and a half is a big improvement? The adjective “empty” shifts our perception, not the water that is, was or will be.

By the same token, if we think of the glass as half full, the adjective “full” shifts our perception in the other direction. This way of thinking focuses on certainty, reality, the water that is definitely there and hits at more to come.

Here I get that annoying platitude to “have an attitude of gratitude.” There is some sort of new-age-y idea out there that being grateful for what you have will create a feeling of abundance and in turn manifest what you want through some twist of the Law of Attraction. Gratitude isn’t some magic bullet. Forcing yourself to feel grateful in general isn’t going to attract some specific object of desire.

Genuine feelings of gratitude are, however, a definitive inner shift in perception and thus a change in our experience of the outer world as it stands now.

My mind is drawn toward a line from the Starz series version of Neil Gaimon’s American Gods. The character Salim hints at the difference between mainstream Christianity in America and Islam as he knows it. If memory serves he said something like “That is the difference between us – you pray to get the things you want. I pray to say thank you for what I already have.”

That is exactly the energy today. Gratitude will not magically bring what you want and don’t yet have…but instead that gratitude will change your perception of what wealth really is for you. Manifesting wealth, prosperity gospel, think positive, be grateful to get what you want nonsense not only risk your money, but they can rob you of your peace of mind and spirit.

Gratitude doesn’t magically bring you what you want. Gratitude takes what you already have and transforms it into treasure. Being thankful for what you have instead of praying for what you don’t have is potent alchemy. Contentment with the present moment is a different kind of wealth, but a priceless one.

Thank you so much for reading and listening. Your likes, subs, follows, shares, questions and comments are always appreciated!

The blog and podcast are not monetized in any way. If you like these (almost) daily Tarot readings please visit the TaoCraft Tarot page on ko-fi and consider becoming a Patron of the Tarot Arts. Members get exclusive content and special access to individual Tarot readings by email. All membership levels, the shop and virtual coffees support creating the blog and podcast.

If you want more than a sip of Tarot, full size readings by email are available to purchase 24/7, no appointment needed HERE (delivery times are slower nights, weekends and US holidays). Placing an order means you agree with these policies.

Thanks again! See you at the next sip!

It’s There

You have the answers you need. They are in there. The trick is coaxing them out…and believing them once they surface.

Hi and welcome to Tao Craft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is the Queen of Cups. The queen is said to evoke the deepest aspects of all that the suit of cups symbolizes. In the Pamela Smith artwork we see here, the cup is bigger and fancier than the rest. There is almost always water imagery with the Queen of Cups, usually the ocean. This is no little pond or river. The Queen is barefoot, which to me symbolizes both connection and grounding. The queen keeps her connection with the earth while plumbing the depths of emotions and insights even if they are hidden in equally deep waters.

One way to sum it all up is “inner wisdom.”

As elegant, and wise and profound as the Queen of Cups energy may seem, this is no rescuer. The Queen isn’t here to tell you what you need to know. The Queen is here to tell you that you already know. Whatever answer you are looking for … it’s in there.

Sometimes the answers you already possess need a little finesse to bring them to the surface. Water gives more resistance than air. It’s physics in a way. If I’m understanding this correctly, when more surface area is exposed to the resistant force of air or water, more overall force is applied to the object.

Here is a thought experiment for you. Imagine a cafeteria tray laying flat at the bottom of a swimming pool. Even if it is the shallow end, if you lift it up flat it is harder to do than if you lift it up by the edge first. If you use both arms and yoink it flat out, it takes more effort than lifting it up by the edge by two fingers.

Deep inner knowing can be like that.

You have the answers you need. The trick is coaxing them out. It takes a little time and patience and subtlety. Be kind to yourself when you plumb these psychological depths

The harder trick is believing them when they do.

It’s in there. You have the answers you need deep inside, even if they are answers you don’t particularly want to hear.

Thank you for reading and listening. Any likes, subs, shares, follows, questions or comments you can give are always appreciated.

None of these free to access Tarot readings are monetized and depend on your support. If you enjoy these posts and podcasts, please visit the TaoCraft Tarot ko-fi page and consider becoming a Patron of the Tarot arts. The memberships and virtual coffees contribute to the web hosting and other costs of creating this (almost) daily blog and podcast

Contemplation: Not just for coffee and morning

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day (or in this case, your evening) in the time it takes to sip from your coffee (or tea or whatever you like)

Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.

This evening’s card is the four of swords and it couldn’t be more perfect for this flipped schedule post and podcast.

I worked a different than usual shift on the day job…it really was a day job today. I like the evening shift, because I am so very extremely not a morning person. My favorite TV quote is Sheriff Hopper from Stranger Things sushing a secretary saying something like “Mornings are for coffee. And contemplation. Coffee. And contemplation.”

I am grateful for the privilege of starting most weekdays with exactly that, a steaming mug of coffee and spending time in my happy place chair writing Tarot contemplations for the day.

I’d forgotten how nice Tarot can be at sunset.

In the morning readings tend to be a pep talk, giving us a heads up about the energies ahead. Morning Tarot tends to focus on how to do our best work with the energy ahead and make the best choices possible with the physical, mental and spiritual resources we have at hand.

Not everyone has the mighty, mighty caffeine metabolism needed to sip coffee at bedtime. Hot chamomile tea works just as well for Tarot sips. If morning Tarot has a “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” energy, evening Tarot has a introspective, decompressing, emotional processing sort of vibe.

Let’s make this as self referential as possible. Morning Tarot readings have a knight of swords style, while evenings have a – you guessed it – four of swords style.

Take a deep breath. A long, slow quiet breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.

See how Pamela Smith drew the hands of the knight with the tips of the fingers touching. Touching fingers is an actual energy thing. What do you do when you are deep in thought. Do you touch your fingers like the card, touch your chin, run your fingers through your hair or something else? Give it a try. Adopt that posture, whatever it is for you. How do you feel? Does the physical change help you quiet the mental noise and stress of the day at all?

If you don’t know your particular physical tell that shows when you are in deep thought, try this: Unless you are driving or something, lace your fingers together. Keep them laced and rest your hands however is comfortable. This is said to seal your aura and stabilize your energies.

I like to think of this as a psychic emotional faraday cage. A Faraday cage is a container or enclosure that protects anything inside from electromagnetic energy from the outside. Imagine that while your fingers are interlaced it blocks out stress or any empathic influences from other peoples energies. Imagine that while your fingers are laced, your inner world is quiet, isolated from outside stress. Imagine that you can hear your own inner wisdom, feel your own emotions, all with perfect clarity and understanding.

If you try it, please let me know in the comments. I’d be interested to know if it works for you, and what you experienced with this simple little exercise.

Take that deep breath, lace your fingers. Now, how was your day? What is your energy level? What emotions do you feel? Does anything bubble up to top of mind wanting your attention? Is there anything inside your emotional faraday cage that needs to be kicked out of the door and dealt with on another day?

The hands on the four of swords card is our hint for this evening. It’s a small, harmless physical gesture that can help you find some evening style contemplation.

Contemplation isn’t just for mornings and coffee. Contemplation, like Tarot, is a soothing sip any time of day.

Thank you so much for listening!

If you enjoy these Tarot sips, please visit the TaoCraft Tarot page on Ko-fi. None of these videos, blog posts or podcast episodes are monetized, so the ko-fi shop, memberships and virtual coffees support the creation of this free to access Tarot content.

As far as I can tell, things back to the usual squirrel rave playlist of a schedule. Short sip posts and podcasts are on weekdays, usually much earlier than this one. There are at least 6 posts of exclusive members-only content on the ko-fi blog per month. Email readings are open all the time so you can purchase them anytime (delivery times vary a bit.) Your questions and comments are welcome and appreciated.

Now it is time for me to have a real world cuppa tea. See you at the next sip!

It can happen

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today the Ten of Cups reminds us that it get better. Happiness is yours to claim.

Welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog & podcast. I’m glad you’re here.

Heck, I’m glad I’m here. Yesterday was a little extra, so for this week the squirrel rave is letting me post on a Thursday, although that might not always be the case. Because this squirrel rave we call life can be like that.

It is only Thursday, and this isn’t a weekly wrap up kind of post but the energy is circling back around to the same ideas that we have been talking about for a few days.

When messages cycle and repeat like that, the boilerplate interpretation is that an important life lesson is being ignored. Repeating energies and messages are supposed to mean that someone just plain isn’t getting it.

I don’t think that is why the energies are dwelling in one spot this time. I think the energies are circling to give us a better look, like a tourist helicopter circling an attraction to give everyone a clear view. I think spirit is doing a slow circle to let us get take our time with this message, make friends with the energy and, to borrow a word from the Dude in The Big Lebowski, abide with the ideas for a while. Spirit and energy doesn’t care about clocks and calendars, so dwelling on one topic for a while is neither bad nor uncommon.

My thoughts and my heart are dwelling and abiding with Pride month.

With the growing intolerance and hate filled legislation in some parts of the American, I legit worry about the health and safety of people whom I care about very deeply.

They say that familiarity breeds contempt. In my experience, that is sometimes true. My early life and extended family familiarity with evangelicals and Republicans has bred a great deal of contempt for those bigoted ideologies.

Familiarity can also breed compassion.

It’s harder to hate a person on grand principle once you get to know them as individuals. There is a 2014 study reported in U.C. Berkely’s Greater Good Magazine (a neuroscience and behavioral psychology newsletter) that suggested that racism really is taught by social groups and is not an inherent genetic-based behavioral trait in rats. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/are_rats

It might not rise to the level of scientific study, but everyday experience seems to hint that the same is true of humans. Or at least for humans with some toe hold on reality.

Where humans have the capacity to make things bad, as a species we have the same capacity to make things better. Difference and diversity teaches us that being a little weird yourself is a good thing. When you meet a lot of different people you can find the ones where you can be weird together. When you meet diverse people, you meet ones who think the same things are important as you do. You find the people who think you are important. Whether you know them or not, whether you feel it or not, there is someone on earth who enjoys and supports people like you. Like it or not, you are loved.

Getting older does make that process a little better. It is easier for adults than it is for kids and teens because we’ve been around the block a few times. . We know the feeling comes back; adults have experienced its return. We’ve met people very different from ourselves and lived to tell the tale. It’s easier to know that things get better when they’ve already been better – and worse, and better, and worse, and better again. To quote that insurance commercial – we know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.

It gets better because when you find that little bit of connection outward, it helps you connect inward which where all the happiness really lives. That little bit of outward support and belonging helps you lay claim to the inward happiness that has always been yours and always will be.

Thank you for reading and listening! Your likes, subs, follows, shares, questions and comments are always, always appreciated.

If you enjoy the YouTube shorts that show the real world card draw that inspires the blog and podcast – or if you enjoy the blog and podcast – please support them all through the TaoCraftTarot page on Ko-fi. The shop, memberships and virtual coffee all help me to create these Tarot readings for you.

Want more than a sip of Tarot? Have a full cup! Full size private Tarot readings with the blogcast author are available on the blog website.

See you at the next sip!

Be Yourself, Be a Hero

Be a Superhero. Be yourself. The 9 of Pentacles is today’s short sip tarot reading.

Hi and welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card, the nine of pentacles, is as light and simple as yesterday’s card, the hierophant, was heavy and complicated.

Thom Pham’s Heart of Stars third edition deck was the absolute perfect one to carry today’s message. I don’t know that this energy could come through quite this way with any other deck.

This deck has a lot going for it including Mr. Pham’s raw artistic talent, and excellent guide book writing not to mention the color palette and the watercolor aesthetic. But it’s his use of movie and TV references that drew my attention to the deck in the first place and makes it a favorite deck to this day.

My intuition works exactly that way. If you have ever had a reading with me, chances are that some sort of song, tv show or movie came up. I’m not a super deep-cut kind of media watcher, so if something comes to mind that I actually recognize, chances are that it is popular enough to be relatable to most clients.

Like right now for example. This probably is nothing more than an example, but if it is meaningful to you somehow, that’s perfect, roll with it. Right now the mental image of baby yoda grogu sipping soup comes to mind. Even if you didn’t watch the Mandalorian series, the snippet of baby yoda sipping from a cup has been a fairly viral internet meme. For me, it is symbolic of utter calm in the middle of utter chaos. It is a more recent image that carries the same feeling as that scene in the 1991 version of Robin Hood where the Sheriff of Nottingham comes into a room and starts pacing and yelling and in a brilliant bit of stagecraft Alan Rickman stabs the dinner ham to bits while the sheriff’s witch-sister deadpan asks “something vexes thee?”

Or, if you are middle aged gen x vanguard like me, you might remember that Hawkeye quote from the TV series MASH “if you can keep your head while those about you are losing theirs, then you probably haven’t checked with your answering service lately.”

Whichever pop culture image you most resonate with, it carries the advice to stay chill no matter how chaotic it gets. Be the cooler head that prevails.

See how that works?

But back to the nine of pentacles. Thanks to the Heart of Stars deck, it has a superhero vibe to go with the picture of Wonder Woman. Classically, nine of pentacles is associated with truth, happiness and, as the artist himself put it , quote This card represents self-reliance and the need to question your biggest assumptions in order to challenge the status quo and things that seems so normal because everyone around you is accustomed to the same beliefs. End quote.

Raise your hand if you see the connection to yesterday’s card.

Some people, for their own health and safety, cannot express their authentic selves. It is a harsh reality and necessary choice. When someone does that, they do so in quiet service to their own health, safety and sanity. That choice is as worthy of our love and support as any other.

Today’s card is the opposite side of the same coin. If you have the wherewithal and opportunity to live your truest most authentic self (and only you can decide what that is) then you have the obligation to do so.

Here, instead of a clairvoyant mental image, I’m getting a clairaudient mental snippet of a song. It’s Odd Future by Uver World that was one of the opening themes for the anime My Hero Academia, although I forget which season.

So there you have your soundtrack for today’s Tarot. Be a hero by being yourself. Be a hero by living and speaking your truth. Without even trying you might inspire someone who can’t do the same thing right now. If you are heroically out there living your best life, you might just heroically comfort someone who really needs to see someone like them.

Or if anime themes don’t convince you, maybe psychologist Carl Jung can. He once said that quote the privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are end quote.

Today the nine of pentacles is asking us to exercise our privilege, be our glorious true selves and maybe inspire other people to become the same kind of hero too.

Thank you so much for reading and listening! Any likes, subs, follows, shares, questions or comments are always appreciated. If you enjoy these free to access tarot readings, please visit the TaoCraft Tarot Page on ko-fi. There is a link in the episode description. The shop, memberships and virtual coffees all support the creation of the blog and podcast.

Thanks again. See you at the next sip!

Speaking of the next sip…that will be in two days. Like the meme says, I don’t have ducks, I don’t have rows, I have squirrels and they are hosting a rave. The squirrels are a little out of hand tomorrow so short sip will be back on Thursday June 9

Extra layer Tarot Turnover

During weekend Tarot turnovers, I sip the coffee and you interpret the Tarot card. Each “turnover” post is a mini intuition building exercise and behind the scenes insight.

Available to members on the ko-fi blog

https://ko-fi.com/post/Weekend-Tarot-Turnover-A0A1D3P96

Do for you

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today, the eight of pentacles and the stuff you do for you.

Welcome to Tao Craft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is the eight of pentacles, which points to work and productivity.

Which is too bad because I’m a lazy, lazy girl this morning.

Headphones on, listening to one of my favorite playlists on Spotify, drinking coffee and writing about Tarot (or knitting) is pretty much my happy place. Life is good at the moment.

But life isn’t always comfy chairs and cinnamon latte.

Shit happens, and when it does, empty platitudes and pep talks are no help whatsoever. Today’s energy could too easily slip into that. On the surface it could sound like some kind of suck it up buttercup, pull yourself up by your own bootstraps puritanical platitude.

Today’s energy isn’t suggesting that you can just cheer up, work hard and everything will be ok. Far from it.

It is suggesting that there is a whole world of coping mechanisms out there. A healthy lifestyle is something that you do for you. The emphasis today is on the word DO. Work isn’t all bad. The hack is finding the right kind of thing do for where your head is at.

When I saw the card, it reminded me of another life long ago in a galaxy far far away. One of the psychiatrists I used to work for back in my long abandoned physician assistant days always said that a job is as good as therapy. It wasn’t for all of the toxic anti-welfare, racism tinged, right-wing-ish reasons that might spring to mind these days. He was talking about structure, diversion, and self esteem.

As supportive as structure and getting something – anything – done in a day can be, I’m not talking about actual depression or real world problems here.

The same kind of advice about structure, diversion and accomplishment re-emerged during pandemic quarantine. For the average person under stress or in the occasional normal doldrums, accomplishing something – anything – in your day can be the little boost that you need. The degree varies from individual to individual and from day to day. Some of us secretly get off on going mach 2 with our hair on fire. For others, fresh pajamas and getting the dishes done is enough.

Self care is as much about mindset as action. For some people self care and a mood boost is all bubble baths and candle light. For others it is turning up the punk rock and cleaning the house. Anything, even being productive at some kind of work or project, can be self care.

The point in all of this is to do the thing that is right for you and your day in the amount that is right for your needs…but for goodness’ sake do SOMETHING. It might make you feel better than you think it will. Even if you are a lazy, lazy person like me.

Like everything for me, it gets back to Zen and Taoist philosophy akin to the old adage “Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.” Self care and stress management doesn’t have to be fancy, high minded or separate from life. Like Zen spirituality, self care and stress management is all about the moment to moment mundane living of life.

If you will allow me to indulge in a moment of fangirling, Madam Adam, one of my favorite social media follows, put it absolutely brilliantly. It was spot-on perfect when I first his post yesterday, and the eight of pentacles this morning confirms it. As he said “self-care is doing what you do anyway, but doing it with intent.”

Bullseye!

Through simple intention, anything can be self care including a day of work and productivity. Through simple intention, the mundane becomes magick.

Thanks for reading and listening! I always appreciate any likes, subs, follows, shares, questions or comments you can give.

For those of you listening on the podcast, a link to the blog website are in the episode description. You can find episode transcripts, private readings to purchase and other non-podcast Tarot content there.

If you are enjoying the blog or podcasts, please visit support them through the TaoCraft Tarot page on Ko-fi. Your virtual coffees, shop purchases and memberships contribute to the web hosting and few basic costs that it takes to create this Tarot content for everyone.

Thanks again. See you at the next sip.

Not Alone

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee.

Welcome to the TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.

Martin Luther King Jr. famously said that “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”

The 53 or so years since Dr. King’s assassination has taught us one more thing. The arc of the moral universe only bends toward justice under the weight of many people, sometimes many generations of people, pulling it in that direction.

Justice is never a solitary act.

It is always a melange of defenders and oppressors, compassion and hate, hope and fear, wisdom and willful ignorance. In justice or the absence of it, we are never alone. If we act solely for ourselves, how can justice exist much less the arc of the universe bend toward it?

Alan Watts once said that “If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet you’ll come to understand that you are connected to everything.” In that same vein, Martin Luther King also said that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

This interconnectedness makes alliances not only crucial to Justice writ large, it is crucial to our own self interest. Ignoring injustices to others is neglecting our own injury. It injures our life and energy to accept injustice to anyone.

Together we are stronger, perhaps strong enough to tug the arc of the moral universe a little closer to Justice.

Wherever you are, however hopeless it feels, you are connected to the universe. The universe is a pretty big place, so rest assured there is someone else in it who believes as you do and accepts and celebrates the person you are deep down where it matters. That connectedness, even in times when you can’t sense it for yourself, will bring all of our weight to bear in bending King’s arc.

Grab onto the arc, hold on to the notion of connection and know there are others hanging on right there beside you.

Thank you so much for reading and listening. Your likes, subs, follows, shares, questions and comments are always, always appreciated.

If you are enjoying these short sips of Tarot or you would like a full cup all your own, please see the links below or in the podcast episode description.

See you at the next sip!