Not So Lost After All

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THE LOST KING: This Normal Tarot card (deck by Seven Dane Asmund of  @publishinggoblin1072  used with permission) wraps together elements of the Hanged Man, Death (reversed) and 8 of cups tarot cards.

Not only do I love the gold foil on black with skeletons aesthetic of this deck, each card seems to masterfully weave together multiple Tarot ideas with a modern sensibility. It is like getting an entire “action eases anxiety” layout in a single card.

In this case, the King element reminds us we are in charge of our inner world. This reminds us we are our own leader, decision maker and high priest(ess) The upside down image, the Hanged Man element, hints at something blocked, turbulent of being resisted. The thing being resisted is change, which connects this card draw to the death-card-change energy that has been appearing in multiple readings lately. There is also an element of 8 of Cups energy that advises some sort of letting go or walking away, which also entails big, sometimes frightening, sometimes much resisted change.

If this reading resonates with you today, let’s put it into the “action eases anxiety” layout model. The energy here is one of taking charge of your own decisions and actions. Change is happening, soon to happen, or much needed but delayed. Any of those scenarios can cause fear or worry. The action that can help is to face the changes, make deliberate (albeit painful) choices. Make the changes you know are the right ones for you. Difficult emotions and consequences of your choices may come, but a better path may well come right along with it.

Thanks again for reading. The next couple of weeks are going to be more squirrel-rave-ish than usual, so I’m not sure when it will be, but I definitely will see you at the next sip!

Week Ahead Tarot: Warmth and Meaning

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For THIS week, I have a treat – for myself, but hopefully for you, too. I’m finally breaking out my “Normal Tarot 2” deck . This thing is GORGEOUS! I love the gold foil on black with skeletons aesthetic (no surprise there) and I’m really looking forward to exploring it more with all of you in a few weeks.

But now…this week. Interestingly, it might be helpful to read both, regardless of which one you chose in the beginning.

THE FROZEN KING: If we think of this card in classic Tarot terms, it is a little bit Death, a little bit Hanged Man. It is about the loss and tragedy of stagnation when the stagnation stems from choice – not the lack of choice. The frozen king is like locked up riches that can not be used. It is about lack of progress and prosperity stemming from a refusal to adapt and change. This is another facet of the Death card that has turned up in some readings lately. If you are frozen, resisting flow and change, ask what passions and loves in your life have you been neglecting. What flame do you need to (re)kindle to once again find your Flow.

THE SIXTH OF SUMMER: This is almost the opposite of the Frozen King, and the solution to it. It also marries elements of multiple Tarot cards, the Lovers and the Three of Cups with a little Ace of Wands thrown in. In short, be passionate about your relationships with people with a strong overlay of playfulness and lightheartedness – be generous with your smiles to strangers and add a little extra wattage to the intimate relationships that matter most to you. The battery for all of the extra energy is authenticity and genuine emotion. Only light the torch of passion when you genuinely and intensely mean it. But the hottest flame ends the soonest. Take care not to flame out fast. Cool the passions you want to last. Advice from trusted sources and friends can help, akin to that three of pentacles energy that is coming through here.

Merry Monday! See you at the next sip!

Sage

Deck: Normal Tarot 2 by Seven Dane Asmund used with permission and available to purchase on PublishingGoblin.com

Things are already looking a little different.

It’s 9-9, September 9th. I read somewhere that 99 is a good fortune number in multiple different traditions. In numerology, someone wrote that it combines “inner wisdom and endings.” And naturally where there are endings, there are also beginnings. It would make sense that is why the Death card from the major arcana is actually symbolic of change.

Change is one thing you can count on.

Adaptability is a survival skill. Only dead things don’t change, which is kind of ironic given that the Death card from the major arcana is all about change.

The old you must cease to exist if the new you, your new life, can come into existence. Change is the only way anything can get better. Sure, it might get worse, too. That’s the chance you take with this crazy squirrel rave we call life.

Sometimes change means a heart rending good-bye to something you really, REALLY wanted. Other times, like this one, it means happily, gleefully, joyfully long-distance punting a stupid mistake into the stratosphere.

Sage Words Tarot was a relapse into masking and smoke-screening from the evangelicals and their ilk. No more. I won’t go back.

Returning to TaoCraft Tarot is an incantation, a spell to manifest a universe of safety where we can all be our authentic selves. I am reclaiming my time and my web name. My website is reverting to its original address and the Facebook page is set to change its name to reflect the blog “Sage Sips.” I’ve added a TaoCraft Tarot page back to Facebook too. That one might have a little bonus woo woo content on it.

But in any case, hi! I am Sage, and I write Sage Sips Blog on www.TaoCraftTarot.com

PS Tumblr you’ll get your turn soon.

A sip of Tarot: magic in many forms

Today’s card is the Magician from the major arcana.

The magician card is traditionally associated with transformation and manifestation. Today’s energy goes along with both. To change things, to transform them, you have to do something differently. To make something, to manifest anything, you first have to first do something.

The broader concept of change would, of course, fall under the Death card. The focus here is cause and effect. The focus here is in the doing. Do nothing and there is no change for the death card to symbolize. The science folks call that inertia.

The magician card often has the symbols of the four minor arcana suits on it. The magician uses all of the elements, all of the concepts from the minor suits and applies them to the concept of transformation and manifestation. The magician incorporates all the ways of doing. All of the suits have various connections to thinking, doing, deciding, withholding, experiencing, all of which are elements of transformation and manifestation.

First decide what you want to change or create. Then do something to start on that new path. Lay the foundation. Do the thing that becomes the cause for the desired effect. Anyone can work that magic.

Thank you for reading and listening to “A sip of Tarot.” on the TaoCraft Tarot blog and Clairvoyant Confessional podcast. Stay tuned for more (almost) daily meditation style Tarot readings in the time it takes to sip from a cup of morning coffee.

Five Card Tarot Reading

Q: Open reading, please!

A: Thank you for being so open about this. I’ve always gotten the best readings that way, and they feel like they have more energy behind them when giving them. It’s like letting a car roll a little instead of riding the brakes, if that makes any sense as an analogy. In answer to some of the “how does this work” questions I get every now and then, this is an example of how all my readings work, really. This is exactly what you get with an e-mail distance reading. Think of it as a written transcript of a video, phone or in-person session. It doesn’t matter to my intuition whether I give the information with my voice or with my fingers on a keyboard, it all comes out the same. But again, thank you. Let’s take a look at your cards. I shuffled 4 times, keeping my mind on “the highest and best for ****”. These are the cards that we got.

For *****

May 26, 2019

Your Cards Today Are:

  • Lessons from the Past: Three of Pentacles (Coins)
  • Current Situation: Death
  • Moving Forward: Three of Cups (reversed)
  • Advice / Choices: King of Wands (reversed)
  • Alternative Path: The Emperor

General Pattern

Are you familiar with the Tarot deck? On part of the deck mirrors the modern game playing deck with aces, numbers, kings, queens etc. That is called the minor arcana and over time, as I read them, these card are more day to day guidance. There are 22 other cards, called Trump cards or the major arcana. These cards have more wattage behind them energy-wise, and they tend to have a bigger message, something that may ask you to take action or make a serious decision.

In your case you have two majors (Death and The Emperor) the rest are minor arcana. In a layout this small, that is enough of an edge that it gets my attention. This may be a cue that you are in a time of high energy (or stress). It doesn’t give a good sense whether this on the horizon or in progress (remember, Tarot never predicts the future….it helps navigate you to it and through it). If I were to take a guess, things have been busy and this may be a hint that you will have a lot of things on your plate for a little while longer. There is also a feeling that you might actually like it that way….as if you are much more stress tolerant than you give yourself credit for being. You might get bored or feel stagnant if there wasn’t some energy and change bubbling up every now and again.

Of your minor arcana cards, three of the possible four suits are showing. That balance among the suits also hints that if there is stress, in is on the second half and you are closer to return to normal than peak change. Or, if you aren’t feeling particularly stressed, this would underline tha notion that you are a person that is very tolerant of energy and change…a very good thing.

When three suits show, sometimes it helps to look at the one missing, too, in case it has a message and is being conspicuous in its abscence. You are missing swords… the element of air, with hints of action, society, relationship with authority. By not being here, I get a feeling that this isn’t a good energy time for action, certainly nothing rash or hurried. It feels more like “sit back and let things unfold. There is enough energy here, you won’t regret it”

Lessons from the Past

Three of Pentacles

Pentacles have to do with the element of earth, the physical realm, the practical nuts and bolts of living, oftern work or career. The three in particular has to do with projects and group efforts, even though in this deck the three shows only one person, seemingly putting in late hours. The phrase “extra effort award” comes to mind here. I can’t say it is definitely work or school related, but it sure feels like it. Something needing extra work is implicit, not explicit. There is a need for a self-starter, a need for you to take initiative somehow. The reason it comes through as lessons past, feels like this is a lesson you may have learned the hard way. There may of been times in the past (the ‘past’ in question here feels like high school, teen years, a time when everyone is learning these types of things) where there may have been times you did assignments only as asked, or done only the minumum (like every teenager ever) But now you are being asked to take your game up a level. Put in the extra effort…dig a few layers deeper into things before passing judgement, before coming to a conclusion or before turning a project in. Usually this position has a lot of validation flavor to it. This does vallidate past experiences …but as a comparison for now, a lesson in what THIS time doesn’t need. The past is a lesson what not to do this time…a strong sense of “look at here and now with fresh eyes, not old habits.”

Current Situation

Death

You KNOW the death card isn’t literal, right? It is about a big change, something that changes everything. I see it all the time at Bachlorette parties….that kind of life altering change. And it doesn’t have to be a negative change. It can be very much a change for the better. Off the cuff, I want to associate this with career change…as if the extra effort energy in the 3 of coins card can bring some change in responsibility at work, or some change in self-esteem or the amount that you enjoy your work. Not necessarily wads of cash, but some pleasant benefit or doorway of opportunity for the future. Outside of work, it feels like a subtle but building, important change. Here is where loads of validation comes in. Lots of little life lessons, lots of learning, paying attention, maturing, caring, paying forward…a zillion little things have accumulated to big change. I feel like this card is saying you are not the same person you used to be, and that you are to be commended for the changes you have made little by little over time. The change will last.

Moving Forward

Three of cups

When a card turns over upside down relative to the person doing the reading, it is called reveresed. Some readers will switch card meanings when that happens. I like to consider all the possible aspects of a card anyway. If it turns over reversed then I just think of it as hinting that idea, that area of life, has blocked or turbulent energy. It’s not different per se, just a little more difficult or challenging than it might otherwise be. Cups symbolize our closest relationships, often romances, but in this case it is about your close circle of friends. It has advice energy around it. The reversal makes me wonder if there has been some distance creeping in between you and your closest friends. It could be as simple as everyone being busy, but the feeling is such it makes me wonder about tensions or conflicts. The advice feels to heal…to patch up any little spats so you can all be there for each other. Not necessarily just like before, but there just the same. A more mature group as a whole, but still a group together. Very stage of life feeling, not dire or permanent feeling.

Advice/Choices

King of Wands

Wands are fire, Kings are leadership. It feels like your choice is ennui and ho-hum vs following your passions. I want to connect that feeling of following your passions to the extra work and extra effort idea from before. The inspiration and idea to take THAT initiative my come from your innate interest and passion for something. Follow your passions and take initiatives. I thing the reversal comes from a hesitation or lack of confidence more than being an indication of outdome. The more confident and self-starting, the more of a leader you are, the more you follow your passions the better. Don’t let your doubts hold you back. Think, yes. Make good rational decisions, yes. But don’t let unrealistic or unreasonalbe self-doubt hold you back either.

Alternative Path

The Emperor

Basically, this is give yourself credit. The feeling here is that the current path card moves toward the three of cups, with that card symbolizing private, not-work life. This path, or part of the path, feels work related. When the two cards line up side by side like that, or seem related somehow, I take that to mean that you are on a good path…this card isn’t so much offering a clear alternative as it is emphasizing the cards before, especially the leadership aspects of the 3 of pentacles and the king of wands. This card is less offering an alternative than it is highlighting the idea of taking initiative, digging deeper, and having the courage to follow your passions. The Emperor is often a protector. Protect your dreams. Protect your passions and goals.

Summary

This part always seems to start with a color or color and chakra reference. For you I get rainbow flourite, with lots of purple and green together. It may not be it’s best known property, but it feels like it will give you the mental focus and clarity to do the extra work, the deeper layers you may need to do at the same time helping you stay grounded and clear. Clarity, focus, that may clear the way for you to also find any courage you need later on.

I see pine trees.

Again the purple stone….could be amethyst too.

There the energy steps back. It feels like this part wants to be extra gentle for some reason, and is stepping back with little information given…but nothing is missing “What needs said has been given”

Here I add what I call the “sigil element” You can use it in making a sigil (power symbol) for yourself if you like, or you can write it down on paper and carry it for luck, or you can just think of it as a picture way to sum up your reading. In my mind’s eye, I see wavy lines for energy and movement. The emphasis on change, and the new way of doing things with more initiative reminds me of the greek letter delta which means change in math. Three triangle together show change and flow….change, change again, constant learning and growing

Affirmation: I have the courage and mental clarity to change when needed and to follow my passions.

And there you have it….a typical Five card reading. I hope it helps!