TWO OF WANDS (reversed) Don’t use planning as an excuse to delay or to be too rigid. Be adaptable. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Roll with the punches if you have to but stop yearning and start doing.
“There are only four rules you need to remember: Make the plan, execute the plan, expect the plan to go off the rails, throw away the plan.”
“Captain Cold” (DC comics)
Deck: Black Cat Tarot by Maria Kuara copyright 2013 all rights reserved used with permission granted on llwellynpublishing.com
“Keep cutting away the unnecessary to find (and protect) the blessings beneath” Precision and minimalism are your allies. It is a time for scalpels, not sledgehammers.” Intuitively comes through here.
The key point of this card, as I understand it, is that personal growth is a double edged sword. The reversal of the card feels significant here, pointing toward shadow work in particular. It is painful to face the darker side of ourselves, but leads to peace and emotional health in the long run.
Shadow work is the emotional equivalent of a blade that cuts through our defenses causing painful feelings – but opening the way to calmer, more peaceful, more fulfilling emotions as well.
“We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain.”
Alan Watts
This is the same energy seen in the Heart and the Crane Lenormand cards from our previous reading. Cut away the excess. Clear away the unneeded. Love exists, whole and complete but obscured, just like the beauty within Michelangeo’s sculpture:
“The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.”
Michelangelo
In this orientation, the sword on the Blessings oracle card resembles the Ace of Swords, which is associated with clarity and truth among other things. The Lenormand reading, the Oracle reading and the hinted-at RWS tarot card all point toward the same basic idea: simplify, clarify, do the hard personal growth work to uncover the obscured now and it will reveal great benefit in the end.
You can be yourself with me. Happy pride month!
Deck: Alleyway Oracle of Secrets by Seven Dane Asmund used with permission from Publishing Goblin LLC
Sage Sips is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee
The two of pentacles is the classic card of “balance.” Of course this echoes the classic Taoist idea of “balance” of opposites, or the harmony of opposites. It takes two to tango as the saying goes, so in a broad, general way, it takes at least two things to strike a balance.
Often that balance is between static and dynamic, stillness and motion.
Balance is an important concept. It has both a major and a minor arcana card to carry its message. Temperance talks about balance from a grand, life-lesson point of view.
The two of pentacles talks about balance from a practical, down-to-earth, an action-to-take-now point of view.
“Life is like riding a bicycle.To keep your balance, you must keep moving.“
Albert Einstein
The two of pentacles is particularly about balance in motion. Life is movement. Life is change. To stay in relative balance – to stay functional, really – we are in a state of constant adaptation.
My favorite example is a unicycle rider who is always making constant small adjustments to stay in balance. If they aren’t moving full-on forward, they move little bits forward and backward in one small spot to stay upright.
Or think of a wrestler or a judo match. Planting your feet and staying still might seem strong and immovable, but staying rigid and not moving makes you susceptible to being tipped over if you are pushed. But if you take a step with the push – roll with the punches if you will – then you are less likely to fall flat on the mat.
One foot up, one foot down. Movement, or at least the ability to adapt and move, gives you greater balance overall and can protect you from a fall – literally and figuratively.
Tune in tomorrow for “Weekend Oracle” with the Alleyway Oracle of Secrets deck. Proceeds from your private readings, memberships and virtual coffees all support this free, no-paywall blog and the free newsletter on Substack.
Sage Sips is tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee
Pause the video. Think of a question, topic or simply the week ahead of you. Choose the card that feels right or that you feel most drawn to. Even if you see the card first – even if you see the card AND read the interpretations before choosing your card, the choice is still valid. You can do all of that and still choose both. Or neither.
Your inner wisdom, your own good intuition still leads the choice. The whole point is that there IS a choice – and it is all yours. You’ll know the right guidance for you when you see it.
THE FOOL: Perspective is everything. A fresh look is a fresh start. Know all the angles before committing to an action or an opinion.
QUEEN OF WANDS: You are the ruler of your inner kingdom. Queen’s lead through example and nurturing. Keep yourself strong in order to be of greatest help to others.
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Sage Sips is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee
“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin”
William Shakespeare
Yes, by all means, go touch grass this weekend. Or any time.
I forget the source, but somebody somewhere did a small study of the effects of looking at photos of natural settings on real time blood pressure. Just looking at nature in a photo will bring blood pressure down.
Imagine what a small barefoot walk in the grass can do.
I don’t know if anyone has gone full science on it, or followed up the long term effects of engaging with nature on one level or another, even a photographic one.
It seems to me that one touch of nature is a good thing for humans, both psychologically and physiologically. We are wired that way.
It also seems to me that human nature is part of the nature that Shakespeare mentions, even though I doubt he meant it that way as he lived and wrote centuries before the advent of modern psychology. The Taoists were down with the whole idea centuries before Shakespeare.
Feeling connected is a basic human need, for everyone everywhere, throughout time. This weekend touch grass. If not the literally, touch something that is part of your own nature to enjoy. Enjoy some small part of the environment you are in, including urban ones. When you enjoy any little anything, you are connected to not only that thing, but all of your fellow humans that enjoy that thing too.
An ice cream cone, a barefoot walk in the backyard, a bike ride, jog in the park, a little phone scroll, a cup of coffee and a good book, play your favorite song just a little bit louder than usual; whatever it is in your nature to enjoy, touch that. As long as it harms no one, do what you will to paraphrase a saying. Touch your happiness, and you can connect with the energy of all the others who have found a similar joy.
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Sage Sips is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee
There still isn’t one. The squirrels have been raging hard the past few weeks.
I’m liking the one card meditation posts, so will continue those for the time being sprinkled in between week ahead, choose your own tarot card, weekend Oracle and Action Eases Anxiety type posts.
As always, no appointment is needed for email readings. Order any time 24/7. Most readings arrive to you within 24 hours or so. Sometime there are delays when you order on weekends or around holidays. These readings are all just me, one real person with no Tarot assistance, AI or otherwise.
Fingers crossed, the squirrely-ness will settle now, at least a little bit.
See you Sunday or Monday with a choose your own card week-ahead reading!
Sage Sips is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee.
Your favorite simple comforts transform into great treasures when you give them your full attention for a minute. – Sage
I’m taking a couple of days off for the Memorial Day weekend here in the US, but private readings and the ko-fi page are still open for orders. Readings will go out next week starting Tuesday 5-27-25. Happy and safe weekend to everyone everywhere!
Sage Sips is tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee
My private readings by email are a bargain, and who doesn’t need that in this economy? The way I write them, a five card layout tells you the exact same things I would say to you in an hour (ish) live or in-person session. You get that plus my 30 years of Tarot experience for what other psychics charge for 15-30 minutes. Order yours on my ko-fi page
“Changes and progress very rarely are gifts from above. They come out of struggles from below.”
Noam Chomsky
Even though it is a long holiday weekend here in the US, it may feel like a continuation of the week with all of the travels and get-togethers and summer kick-offs and whatnot.
Maybe it is because of rumors of a new covid strain just as the vaccine program is being sabotaged. To be honest, this might be a projection on my part, but I think a little bit holds true for the collective energies as well.
It doesn’t feel peaceful. It feels like we are being thrown into dynamic, change-filled energy. Again.
One keyword for the Eight of Wands is “progress.” Progress is impossible with out change, without movement. Progress in any direction is still progress.
If you are moving toward failure, great! At least there is something to be learned.
If you are moving away from failure, great! At least you’ve learned from the situation and are making corrections.
If you are moving toward something better, great! Savor the moment.
If you are not moving much at all, great! At least you are getting a chance to rest and recharge. Enjoy it.
Change is a part of life and living. There is always the potential for progress.
The blog will be quiet over the holiday weekend and any reading orders will go out May 27, 2025 or after. Have a happy and safe weekend everyone! See you at the next sip!
Five card email reading gives you the same information as a 45-60 minute in-person session for much less – only $30. Three card readings are the same as a 30 minute live session, $15. Most orders are filled within 24 hours.
The “Action Eases Anxiety” layout is inspired by the sentence-like quality that Lenormand style tarot readings tend to have. We’ve talked about that before in he “learn with me” series about Lenormand
In this layout, the left card functions as the subject of the sentence. It is the thing that is, be it your current situation or our shared energy environment.
The right card is like the verb in a sentence, the action, the thing to do now that might help the situation – or at lease easy your worry a tiny bit.
Today, the mental image that came with both cards is an advertisement where a person goes “trust fall” and falls backward into a huge pile of dried plants to demonstrate the plant stems and leaves that they don’t use in their select flower-only suppliment.
As much as I like that product, I’m not here to endorse anything. The trust fall bit of it is the key to the intuitive image.
“When things seem terrible, it can feel impossible that they will get better. if the future is too big for a leap of faith, then all you can do is take a trust fall into the present moment.” comes through here.
The “what it is card” is the bouquet. If today isn’t stressed, enjoy the beauty of it. Enjoy the moment. If you are feeling stressed, try to sort out what of the stress is rooted in the past and future. Try to see the present moment for what it is. Look around you. Are you in life threatening danger? If you are – then you aren’t reading this. If that’s the case you have bigger things to do than read blogs and scroll social media. So if you are seeing this, stop: Take in this moment for what it is. Stop and smell the flowers the bouquet card is offering. It also reminds me of that quote attributed to Mark Twain “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, the most of which never happened.”
What it is is not so bad when you eliminate the parts that are actually worries about a future that may never happen.
What to do is the Clover card. It is a card of luck. The doing is simple in this case. Simple, but easier said than done when anxiety is raging. Acknowledging and accepting that things aren’t so bad and are getting better. When anxiety or sadness is raging in your brain, it’s hard to feel as lucky as you really are.
Acknowledging your luck attracts it to you.
Tell yourself that you are lucky.
Blind, rote, repeated affirmations even when you don’t feel them isn’t going to magically manifest the thing you want. They won’t do that even if you do feel it. But what that can do is bring your feelings and your energy into better alignment with the flow of things and help you find what you really need, even if it is different from your original desires and expectations.
You are lucky, it is just a matter of finding it. And it may look like something you never in a million years imagined.
Thanks for reading!
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deck: Healing Light Lenormand by Christopher Butler c 2021 all rights reserved used with permissions on Llywellynpublishing.com
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