Tag: emperor

Better Than You Might Think

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Psychologists, holistic health professionals and Buddhists agree. Action Eases Anxiety – maybe better than you think. Simple mental and physical exercises can take the edge off of anxiety, which is more than typical day-to-day worry. Things like naming five things you see, taking a short walk, patterned breathing. I highly recommend @DanHarris and @jim_donovan_sound_health on instagam for more trustworthy real world anxiety advice.

This layout is inspired by Lenormand Tarot but works with any Tarot or Oracle Deck. The left card reads the current concern or the current energy environment. It may be a clue to what is the cause of your anxiety. The right card is a clue to the best thing to do next. It’s like a sentence; Subject and verb. It shows what the situation is and what to do about it.


WHAT’S GOING ON: Queen of Cups. This is deep emotion, perhaps something long suppressed bubbling to the surface. Emotion isn’t your enemy. Sit with it. Feel it fully, then move on knowing it doesn’t rule you or the reality around you.

BEST NEXT STEP: The Emperor. This signifies deep competence and real-world skill. Build your confidence. Head over heart. Let logic lead for a few steps to give emotions a chance to exist and heal and be understood without letting them rule you. You are in charge here and probably doing much better than you may think. Expanded post on https://TaoCraftTarot.com tomorrow

Sage Sips is a free-to-read tarot blog supported by tarot fans like you. Private readings, memberships and virtual coffee gifts all go toward the cost to produce and web-host this blog.

Thank you so much for reading! See you at the next sip!

YouChoose Interactive Tarot: Your card, this moment

https://youtu.be/MhAtTL2FPOo

Intended to reach through time and the world wide web to give you a choice – this is your card for your day and this moment in time.

Distance Tarot is my specialty. More blog-only Tarot content and individual email readings available to order anytime, no appointment needed at https://TaoCraftTarot.wordpress.com.

Thank you for watching!

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Deck: Waite Smith 1909 Tarot images from the public domain. Diamond flare printing via The Craft Cards Store.

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YouChoose Interactive Tarot: The Cleric Within

Happy October!

Interactive Tarot is easy. Watch the video above, and pick a card. Pause the video if you need more time. Then keep watching to see the reveal. The daily meditation for the card is below.

The free one card digital InkMagick reading by email offer continues on the special offers page (link in the menu)

Animal Wise Tarot by Ted Andrews used with permission

Left: King of Cups. Mr. Andrews associates this card with dragonfly through the eyes. Dragonflies have large compound eyes that are able to detect far greater subtlties of light and color than can human eyes. This guides the dragonfly in navigating its world. In other decks, the King of Cups is also associated with guidance of a different sort. Although the suit of cups is often associated with romance and relationships, in this case it resonates with the alchemy association with the element of water, and in turn with inution. The King of Cups is a mentor, and your cue to look for real-world advice and guidance from someone with more experience. “Get the life hack from someone who knows what they are doing” in other words. BUT there is another thread to this card. Sometime the mentoring is more esoteric. Sometimes this card is a cue that the energies are right to explore spiritual topics like vision quests, spirit guides, guardian angles and so on. Only you and your intiution can tell you. You are your own spirit guide and your own best advisor whether you need to look for practical outer world advice or look inside for your spiritual path. Listen to the cleric within.

Center: Six of Swords, “Dove” Doves are lovely gentle birds, and we are surrounded by them more than you might think. Mourning Doves aren’t afraid of the suburbs or the countryside. Pidgeons are related to doves, and they aren’t afraid of suburbs or cities either one. Heck, I’ve seen those guys take on a bus. Think pidgeon (aka the rock dove.) This is a week to do compassion your own way just like pidgeons do being a dove in their own way. Doctor Who and the “Witches Apprentice” episode comes to mind with its idea of “fierce compassion” Do your spirituality your own way this week. Compassion and contemplation can be done with gusto. The best person to lead that kind of spiritual practice is you. Follow the cleric within.

Right: The Emperor “Eagle” I remember seeing a bald eagle up close at a rehab facility, where the individual could not be returned to the wild because of its injuries. They. Are. Huge. Not a bird to be messed with in a dark alley. Eagles are a good analog for the Emperor card which is about confidence, and utter competance. Here in America, Eagles are associated with freedom, strength, and protection. An innate quality that goes along with those things is the ability to think, and critically evaluate for onself. You are the Emperor of your world within. Trust your own eagle eyes and trust your own ability. This is a good week to learn, and learn confidence in your own ability. You are the emporor of your inner world. Decide for yourself, you are your own chief cleric within.

YouChoose Interactive Tarot Aug 30 -Sept 5

What do you think? How do you like this combination of watching the card draw on a video instead of a series of still to choose your card? I’m still more of a writer than a yootoober, but let me know which you like better, photos or video. Thank you to everyone for all of the likes, shares, subs, blog follows and everything. I really appreciate it. If you let me know what kind of Tarot content you want, then I can create it. YouTube is turning out to be a more interesting element in this than I expected. But please, let me know what interests you, what topics you want. Comments are open again! You ask, I read.

For today, pick a card. Watch the three cards being drawn, then choose the one that draws your eye or holds your gaze the most. If it all seems the same and you need a minute, feel free to pause the video then restart it to see the reveal.

Left: Seven of Cups. Cups are associated with the element of water and with intuition. The energy for this card for this week is more aligned with this older alchemical understanding than with the more contemporary notion of understanding the four suits as symbolizing your relationships in life, in the case of cup your most inner circle of human relationships (romance, marriage, family etc.) Looking through the lens of intuition, the seven of cups advises you to listen to your intuition and try not to over-think things. The energies might be a little prone to circular logic, or logic being overwhelmed by detail and possibilities. When faced with a complicated choice, give your heart and intuition a chance to help you navigate through all of the smoke and the noise

Center: The Emperor. The energy here is not about a power trip. The energy here is closer to “nobless oblige” or in the words of Stan Lee “With great power comes great responsibility.” Or in the words of one of the many Tao Te Ching translations “To master others is strength, to master oneself is true power.” The Emperor is, as you might expect, associated with power – in this case power associated with protection. Where do you need protected? Where can you help protect others? What are your strengths and weaknesses, and how can you productively use the strengths while shoring up the weaknesses? How can you make mutually beneficial alliances? Everyone wearing a mask to keep everyone safe springs to mind.

Right: Four of Cups. Emotional currents move in their own time. Don’t place expectations on your feelings…feel them. It isn’t a test. It isn’t a race. Your time to heal is uniquely your own. I’ve seen this card a lot lately, and I really think it has to do with persistence, not failure; continuation not an end result. The journey really is more important than the destination and how fast you get there this week. The time it takes to get your arms around emotion…especially feelings of loss or grief…goes according to nature, not our arbitrary clocks and calendars.

YouChoose Interactive Tarot 7/5 to 7/11 : Jumble of Change

Pick a card, any card.

It helps to stop long enough to take a deep breath. You don’t have to stop thinking about everything or anything fancy. Just stop everything for half a tick and look at the three stacks of cards. Choose the one you think is right for you. If you want to stop and think about it for a bit, that’s ok. Pause the video, make your choice, then restart to see the reveal. Once you have your card, scroll down to see your reading for this week. As always, it isn’t a prediction, just a little guidance, a heads up about which way energies are flowing for you right now. Think of it like a gps traffic report for the small section of your commute. It won’t tell you exactly what cars are beside you in traffic, it won’t tell you exactly what you might see by the road on the way, but it can give you a good idea how to navigate through it all, and which way to turn next. That’s the basic intention behind all of my readings – how to navigate the next little bit of life’s path to help you steer toward where you would like to go and hopefully find some cool stuff along the way.

Taking a breath and focusing on which card feels right helps you find the message that best fits what you need for this week. From my side of the table, I look at all three cards together to get a sense of the big picture, everyone-together, regional or national energies. That helps me do a better job with these blog post kind of general audience readigs. It’s interesting to watch how the cards relate to each other over time. Which is an even bigger, longer term look, kind of like looking at trend lines on a data chart. Over the first half of 2020 there have been several waves of energy. At the beginning of January there was a scattershot sense of warning that was wreaking havok with people’s sensitivities, even clients who had not thought of themselves as empathic before. That mental image of a U.S. map with a bunch of little tornados all over it still comes to mind at times. Then came the outright anxiety of the pandemic, the lockdown for those who had it, and the strong message to focus on the physical and not worry about big decisions or spiritual things. June was a bit of a respite. Even conservative re-opening like those seen in New York City seemed to ease a lot of tension. The weekly interactive Tarot seems cohesive during those waves. The three cards tied together those heads-up, know your boundaries, take care of yourself kinds of general messages.

This week is more disconnected and a jumple of messages between the three cards. Then general energy that seems to come through here is transition, a fluid, almost slow motion change in direction. The mental image here is a running puppy on a tile floor that skids around a corner more than turning… or drift racing cars…or that part of The Breakfast Club where they are running in the hallways. It’s a skidding, maybe not well controlled turn, but a turn just the same. Agressive mitigation may come back, but we know what to expect and what to do. Now is the time we can turn more inward since the outward is more known. It is like we are driving full Mad Max toward a spiritual cliff. We are in for enlightenment and spiritual deepening or we are in for a emotional crush. “A splintering of the heard” comes to mind here. That choice, that change of direction is individual. Some make the turn, live, love and triumph. Others are in for either a rude awakening or for a beeline back to a comfortable regression (think going back into a cave) I know that is harsh. I know that partisan tribal thinking will define who each person thinks is turning and who is crashing. Just be aware that a turn is coming up. Watch out for a jumble of changes. Take care to adjust your inner world as needed and try not to slide over any cliffs.

Left: Ten of Swords. It’s a dire looking card, but a fitting one. It’s been a rough week out there for some folks. Or a rough month, year, or who-knows-how-long. Getting stabbed in the back by life can really get you down. Sure, one thread of this card is all rosey glasses pep talk. You know, “when you fall down seven times get up eight” or “when life hands you lemons make lemonade” type stuff. Truth is, sometimes things just suck with no end in sight. The funny thing is the solution is charging right down the middle. If things are bad, admit it, face it, deal with it. The answer doesn’t necessarily lie with either extreme. Denial, pretending rainbows and unicorns doesn’t help. Being paralysed by hopelessness doesn’t help either. Dropping an f-bomb or two can’t hurt. Ultimately, it may come down to staying down for a little bit. Admit the suckitude of it all, asses the situation realistically (yeah, dude, you really do have a bunch of swords sticking out of your back) THEN do what you need to do to get up and fight again. Most of all, don’t be afraid to ask for someone to lend a hand. It’s hard to pull the blades out of your own back. Once you are healed, you can return the favor next battle.

Center: Two of Coins. This card is about balance in motion. Constant, eternal, adapting balance. Compare those seeminly impossible stacks of “Zen” rocks to riding a unicyle. Both need balance. Rocks on one hand are steady, stable things, inorganic, some might even say dead from an ordinary point of view. Life is trickier. Life is always in motion. Even if you feel stuck, you are travelling through time. If you are bored out of your skull with staying home, look at the big picture. What is a few months balanced against the whole of a year? What is a few moments of extra effort to put on a mask balanced against a human life? Small balancing gestures are butterfly wing-flaps that can build into a hurricane. Look for the small easy things to do now that can have a bigger balancing impact later.

Right: Emperor. You got this. The Emperor card symbolizes profound competance. The Emperor is the protector, the leader, a father figure in a very archetypal sense. But not in any sort of violent or domineering sense…this is a card of true strength. Real power is over ones self. For this week, build your skill set, focus on practice, training, repeating more than breaking new ground. Emperors are not alway imperial. Get really good at what you already do before expanding for a little while.

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You Choose Interactive Tarot Reading: Coronavirus the 13th edition

Left: Death. Momento mori. Valar Morghulis. Wash your dang hands, listen to experts, mitigate viruses…if not for yourself, then for someone you love.

Middle: The Emperor. It’s ok to be ok. It’s ok to take it all in stride. That just means that this is your time to shine, to be hero and protector for the vulnerable ones. Valar Doheris.

Right: Five of Coins. We are all riding this space rock together. Just be excellent to each other.

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!

Tarot Without a Net: The Heirophant

I like Marvel.

I was as happy to see Professor X as I was to see who I thought was ObiWan Kenobi on the Emperor card. It is a perfect bridge between what I see and what the artest saw in these two cards.

It’s been a long year coming, but waaay back when the third edition of Heart of Stars third edition deck was released by Thom Pham, he very graciously gave permission for me to share these posts with you. I am so looking forward to exploring this deck with you because it is very much how I work. If you have ever had a reading with me, there is a good chance that spirit and energy gave a pop culture reference at some point…a song, book, movie or tv show.

It is interesting to me that the very thing I missed by mis-understanding Odin from Thor as Obi-Wan from Star Wars is the exact thing that drives my impression of this card.

The Hierophant (or Pope card in some decks) has always been a nemesis for me personally. The Hierophant / Pope is often associated with social rules and conventions. On the RWS deck it is rife with religious imagery. As an adult child of evangelicals recovered fundamentalist, that is a hot button pushing reflex issue for me. Lucky for me AND my clients, that only happens when I engage with stuff like this, outside of a reading. In a reading, the Hierophant is smooth as silk and clear as a bell because it has to do with connecting with THEIR  energies and messages. Please don’t take my wrangling matches with this card to be an indication of what is to come in YOUR reading should this card turn up.

It is much better than it used to be, actually. It took a dozen re-writes to do the “Arcana in Balance” post (I’ll updating and reprising that series here later this year.) Since coming out secular, it has been easier to deal with this card. It is even easier still since Johanne Dinali explaned the card in her twitter feed as the keeper of traditions, like a grandfather or a shaman.

Here, I get the word teacher very strongly from this card. It still has undertones of rules and conventions because the Professor teaches discipline and ethics and how to deal with mutation super powers. It has the same threads of mystery and power. All that Professor X has learned has been long and hard-won….and about mysterious powers. So yes, the Hierophant is the keeper of rules, traditions, social conventions….but to teach them. He teaches mysteries through the same, not just all law and order. It is a subtle, even nonexistant distinction to those who embrace religion, perhaps. To those of us who have experienced and deliberately, mindfully left mainstream religion, it is an important one. The hierophant is more kindly kindly monk-teacher-scribe than lay-down-the-law, missals and diatribes Pope.  Professor X and the heart of the Hierophant card is more like teaching us to find and use our X-men powers than it is law-and-order, lock-em-up and throw away the key. The Hierophant is a spiritual teacher – not a religious  officer, judge, jury and executioner.

I was browsing for a quote to post with the card as I often do on Instagram (@Taocraft.Tarot) This one by Thich Nhat Hahn caught my eye:

“Doubt in my tradition is something that is very helpful. Because of doubt, you can thirst for more and you will get a higher kind of proof”

That resonates with teaching in a very real world way on multiple levels for me. If we go back to my personal religious issues (obviously not something that will relate to everyone, but shout out to all the ex-vangelicals out there) anything worth learning will stand up to doubt and questioning. Christianity, for me, disappeared in a poof of dust at every question, every doubt. Taoism has stood up through everything life has thrown at me. Tarot has never ending wisdom so far for me AND my clients. That isn’t bragging about my skill…it is bragging about what a reliable, testable, doubt-and-question-tolerant tool Tarot has proven itself to be in my experience.

That is just from the one sided perspective of a student. I’ve taught. This card and this quote has something to say to teachers as well: Questions and doubts are a wonderful thing. When I was teaching Kung Fu and Tai Chi I LOVED it when students had questions. They took the whole class to some really cool wonderful places…to hell with what I had planned. When students question us and doubt us and push us….they are doing US, the teachers and enormous favor. They are showing us the dead spots that need pruned away. They are showing us the empty gaps that need feed. If I don’t know an answer, it is only an embarrassment if I fail to try and find and answer or at least try to point the student in the direction of other possible sources for their answer.

When Professor Hierophant rolls in to a reading, it is a good time to ask questions, face our doubts, test the rules, then follow those guides and lessons that prove trustworthy.

Unsurprisingly, given his choice of Professor X, the artist makes teaching a primary focus, instead of a supporting focus behind the paternal / protector emphasis of the Emperor card.

Deck: Heart of Stars Third edition by Thom Pham, used with permission.