The fun way to do this is to pause the video, choose your card, restart for the reveal. Or read everything, then choose. It doesn’t matter, because it is still YOU making a choice. Take the message for your own or leave it. It is all up to you.
Tarot doesn’t tell you what will happen in life, it helps you know what to do when life happens.
SEVEN OF SWORDS: Cut your losses. Don’t throw good money after bad. Work smarter, not harder. Intellect is your friend this week. head over heart for now.
ACE OF CUPS: Happiness or ease comes like a cool drink of water. It is ok to allow yourself a moment of peace and contentment. You are the only one who can. Deck: Black Cats Tarot by Maria Kurare copyright 2013 all rights reserved, used with permissions via llwellynpublishing.com
THE OUTSIDER: If you ever don’t feel social, don’t push yourself. Sometimes being on the outside is exactly where you want – or need – to be.
Nothing about being a human is 100% defined 100% of the time. Seldom are things clearly black or white. Most of the time life is a million shades of grey and all the more beautiful for it.
Taking a little time alone doesn’t make you a hard-core introvert. Going out doesn’t mean you are a forever extrovert. Self-care means doing what you need in the moment to be as mentally, emotionally and physically healthy as you can be and keep it that way.
Taking a step outside is a shift in perspective, be it literally outdoors or a step away from the usual social group for an evening or a weekend. Things don’t look so large in your mind when you put them in a big-picture perspective.
The saying “Not my circus, not my monkeys” comes to mind. This isn’t the energy environment for drama. Step away and let the kids work it out among themselves. If it isn’t your issue, don’t engage with the fireworks.
Deck: Alleyway Oracle of Secrets by Seven Dane Asmund used with permission
Don’t worry…you can’t cheat these readings. No matter when you choose your card, even if it is after watching the video and reading the meanings below, it’s still YOUR intuition leading the choice. There is still a choice being made and that’s what it is all about.
“Tarot is about telling you what will happen in life, it’s about figuring out what to do when life happens.” – Sage
This set of cards is very yin/yang like. The ten of cups is internal, about perception and subjective experience, like the black part of the taijitu (yin yang symbol) Yet the contentment is expansive, yang, like the white dot in the yin field. It is about how you occupy your moment and your space.
On the other hand, Pentacles are connected to earth element – the physical realm. This is yang, outward, like the white side of the taijitu. This is about how you interact with the outside world. Yet conserving, contracting, withdrawing – a very yin thing, like the black dot on the symbol.
Which direction did you choose? Where is your flow and change? What do you most need to create harmony with this week?
TEN OF CUPS: Take comfort in friends, family, chosen family and tribe. Moments deep contentment are close at hand and, for the moment, are easier to find.
Or, as Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) said in the 1994 movie The Crow “Little things used to mean so much to Shelly. I used to think they were kind of trivial.Believe me, nothing is trivial.”
FOUR OF PENTACLES: Conserve your resources and mind your budget. It’s the doorway to get through this energy environment and to get to better times. “Temporary setback” “Rally the groups” and “Take action to conserve” “extend resources” all come to mind.
“A penny saved is a penny earned.” – Ben Franklin
Thanks for reading! See you at the next sip!
Deck: Alleyman’s Tarot by Seven Dane Asmund, used with permissions, Publishing Goblin LLC
You can’t cheat this. This is all your choice, your intuition. You choose what you are going to do this week with or without the cards. You choose how you interact with the cards. You choose if to use the guidance or not. You choose if you want to pick your card before seeing it. If you look at the cards first, you are still following your instinct to the right message for you. If you read the interpretations below, and choose which one is for you – great! It’s still you choosing your path in tandem with the spirit/energy guidance. It’s all valid, because it all comes from YOU.
The same is true for private readings and larger layouts. You know your truth when you hear it. If a reading makes you mad, it’s the mad that counts -not the reader being right or wrong. How you feel about a reading and what you do with the information is what Tarot is all about.
“Tarot doesn’t tell you what is going to happen in life, Tarot helps you figure out what to do when life happens.” – Sage Snow
THE CHARIOT: Things are happening fast. Pay attention. Head over heart, keep emotions in check. This is not a time to let your mind wander or lose your temper. Stay frosty.
SIX OF SWORDS: Gentle progress is still progress. Go with the natural flow. Now is not the time to make waves.
In this simple layout is almost like a sentence: what it is and what it does – more accurately what you can DO with the collective energies around us all today. Actions eases worries, in this case worries about relationships or connections with people.
The ship hints at a time of prosperity & progress. The emphasis is on progress, on forward movement. The ship implies smooth sailing, much like with the smooth waters / go with the flow collective energy I’ve seen lately with the Six of Swords in collective and private readings alike.
The bouquet hints at affection and, more importantly, showing it. Not is not the time to bottle up feelings. If you feel kindness, compassion, love, amusement, or any good thing – now is the time to show it. Show it in no uncertain terms.
If you feel less pleasant things, show that too. Yes, by all means, communicate those feeling too, but the key here is to show it with emotional maturity and kindness. The Bouquet card with its pretty flowers reminds us of those wise old adages: “You catch more flies with sugar than with vinegar.” and “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.”
Again the phrase “emotional maturity” comes to mind. Pitch kindness, not a fit. A little calmness and reason will go a long way for you in this energy environment.
The outer world may be chaos, but it is a good time to show love and kindness. If it is returned, soak it in. Even when it is unrequited, you can feel good about loving in the first place. That moment, that feeling existed and added to the good in the world and still does.
When you love, you win.
Deck: Healing Light Lenormand by Christopher Butler copyright 2021 all rights reserved used with permission llwellynpublishing.com
Sage Sips is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee
Little by little, moment by moment, one foot in front of the other…with a little mindfulness and time, if you can’t find your way, the way will find you.
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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