Taijitu Tarot Reading

Sage Sips is Tarot in the time it takes to sip your coffee. This longer read is a real world example of my new Taijitu Tarot layout.

This is a real life email Taijitu Tarot Reading that the client generously gave permission for me to share with you. This shows how the new layout works and what an email private reading with me is really like. You can order your own private reading anytime, 24/7, no appointment needed. Most of the time I can get the reading back to your email within 24 hours or so.

Get your own private Taijitu Tarot reading HERE

For added privacy, email readings have a photo or your individual real-world cards instead of a YouTube video. Videos are just for blog readings.


Q: Thanks for doing a reading for me. No problem. You can use the reading as an example on your website. I’ve seen you do these before and trust you to black out all the right stuff.

So much is going on I don’t even know where to start. Could you do an open reading?

A: Thanks ****** I appreciate it. I hope the reading helps you the most, but I also hope it helps other people who might stumble across it.

General Patterns

This layout reminds me a little bit of those lenormand “Action Decreases Anxiety” readings I was telling you about. We can do one of those for you someday if you want. The energy here is very straightforward and to the point the way those two-card Lenormand readings tend to be.

But I hear you about a lot going on. Two major arcana cards in one small three card layout is saying something.

I ‘hear’ (meaning the intuition comes as words, sounds or music instead of the usual mental images) “Liminal” while I get the impression of some sort of hallway. This high energy time is a transitional one from some phase or cycle or another. I hear “big moves” and “afoot” like when Sherlock Holmes says ‘the game is afoot” So you are right to think something is up, it’s just a matter of figuring out what, and and then figuring out what is the best thing to do about it.

Hallways are symbolic of transition and portal-like liminal spaces, so the hallway image makes sense. There is a sense of reassurance that even if there is chaos now, there is something waiting on the other side. It’s hard now, yes, but something is waiting on the other side. There is no guarantee that the other end of the hallway is euphoric dreamland – but by the same token there is a feeling of reassurance that it is all going to be OK sooner or later.

These cards are not at all tied to time, but are all about energy flow. It takes as long as it takes, but you’ll feel it when things shift. You’ll know when the energy changes. It’s not a past-present-future thing at all. It’s all about shift and flow. Here I see river rapids and a kayak, all rocks and white water and turbulence and noise, but ending in a wide, quiet, shallow, calm, sunny area with wide grassy banks.

I get the image of being caught in a rainstorm. It’s hard to say exactly how long any given rain will last, but you can often have a good sense whether it is a quick storm or settling in for a long, dreary day. The hallway is all shades of blue too, for whatever that is worth. If there is any crystal connection here, it feels like a reference to lapis lazuli which has a connection to intuition and the third eye. It might help support your own good intuition and help you navigate the next period of time, at the end of the hallway, whatever that turns out to be.

Yin: Judgement

Yin is energy you are drawing in toward you, which can be a very good thing. Yin is as powerful as yang, but in a different way. A strong magnet can pick up a car. This card can represent what you are manifesting, but can also point out weak spots that you can change for the better to help attract and manifest for the highest good..

Of the three cards, this one is really grabbing my attention. This feels like where majority of the energy is flowing for you right now.

The Judgement card is a two edged sword and it feels like you are getting both edges.

On one hand, there is jugdement in the sense judgementalism It feels like you have been misunderstood and misjudged harshly and unfairly to some extent, although you may have perceived this misjudgements as larger or harsher than it was intended at times. On this side of things you may come face to face with the idea of reputation. How much do you care about what other people think of you, and whose opinion really matters to you? By the same token, whose opinion is meaningless and irrelevant to you? Why should you care what distant acquaintances think of you?

The other side of the Judgement card is one of second chances. The phrase “to hell and back” comes to mind. I’m not sure where that comes from or exactly what it means in this context, but there it is. I’m also reminded of an old TV where one of the characters literally goes to hell and comes back. That character got a second chance in a big way and turns out to be the hero of the plotline.

I am also reminded of an internet meme that “religion is for people who want to stay out of hell. Spirituality is for people who have already been there.”

So for you…it’s a little both. You may be forced to come face to face with whether or not you care about what people think about you, and what you do when you are judged incorrectly or unfairly. But on the other hand, beyond this current turbulence you get a second chance at life in a larger sense. That doesn’t necessarily mean rekindling the relationship with ***** as much as part of you might wish for that. It means that you are going to be ok and have a second chance at inner peace whatever outer form that may or may not take.

Yang: Knight of Swords

Sometimes this card can represent something you need to push away, or release, to literally ‘blow off’ as the phrase goes. In your case I think this is something to embrace, lean into, and pump up the volume. In face I ‘hear’ the song “pump up the volume” by MARRS. Cool video, you might like it. I think it’s on YouTube.

Now the phrase “fake it until you make it” comes through – but not in the sense you might think. It’s not telling you to be fake – its saying to use both sides of the mind-body connection to your benefit. Just as reducing stress can improve physical health, physical environment can impact mental health.

This isn’t to say you have to an hour of cardio every day. This energy feels more like a recommendation to DO the things you know bring you joy. Double especially for those inexpensive, abundant “simple pleasures”. Have a favorite meal for no reason. Feng Shui the heck out of your living space. Light that jar candle that you enjoy, and get another if you need it. That sort of thing.

I’m also reminded of one of those inspirational saying things from somewhere “Don’t think yourself into a new way of doing, do yourself into a new way of thinking.” BE the change you want to see in the world. Imagine what life would be like if you already had a quality or condition that you want, and live that as if it were true for a day. Just a day. Try a mindset on for size, so to speak. Mat Auryn described it in Psychic Witch as if you want to be a powerful psychic, live for a day as if you already were. What’s different from the things you do now? If you like the feel of it, why not make the changes long term or permanent?

People see you as more confident and daring than you may feel. Be the badass you want to see in this world.

Harmony: Empress

I always know things are on the right track when I ‘hear’ the song “Bamako” by Youssou N’Dour which is the case here.

Rocks and trees and flowers and bees kind of nature is all well and good. In fact here I get the mental image of a wide, slow moving river with rocky banks. If you can get yourself into that natural environment, it can only be a good thing. Next best is forest, under shady, cool trees (here I see a local park with trees and a gazebo by a small creek.)

But the other kind of ‘nature’ is stepping forward more strongly for you. As in be true to your nature.

The way to move forward toward inner peace is to be authentic. You may have given away too much of yourself in service of others, to the extent there is nothing left for others to connect to. Moving forward with authenticity is the best path to that promised second chance. It is a way to call back the energy you have over-expended in order for it to enrich the connections you still have and to (re) build future connections.

Easier said than done, but simple and clear does not mean easy.

This is the point where the energy is short and to the point, like that Lenormand thing I mentioned earlier.

Summary

This is the part where I listen to pure intuition. The images might connect to the cards, or it might not. This is a chance for any other important messages to come through, especially in an open reading where there is no specific topic or question to guide the conversation.

Here I get blue lace agate to help calm stress and restore peace of mind.

I also get sage to release negativity BUT later changing to something sweet woody or resin-ish like sandalwood, amber, or copal as your confidence returns.

A flash of a teapot, which is sort of my universal symbol for hello from a grandmother or other crossed over loved one who was close to you.

Now I get the scent of pipe tobacco and a wood shop, which reminds me of my grandfather. That may be a cosmic hello too from someone who identified male when they were on earth.

Tea comes to mind. I don’t know if that is a literal ‘drink green tea’ thing or encouragement to find the Zen things in life that you enjoy, Zen in the spirit of mindfulness like a Japanese Tea Ceremony.

And there the energies step back.

I hope that helps in some way. As always, if you have any questions feel free to contact me here or DM on ko-fi. I have ko-fi DM set to open for all levels of supporters.

All Best Wishes,

Sage

Indulge: ADA (action dissolves anxiety) Tarot For Today

ADA (action dissolves anxiety) are daily meditation style tarot readings that do not predict the future – they empower you to influence the future through your actions.

Thank you for watching! Please like and subscribe for more. Want a reading personalized just for you? Reading purchases, memberships, and virtual coffees all support this channel and the blog.

What it is: Page of Pentacles (learning, sense of wonder)
What to do: Judgement (critical thought, second chances)

Just for today, indulge your curiosity and not your judgement. Being judgmental serves no good purpose today. Curiosity opens doors, and lets in light.


Use the search bar in the mobile menu or on the right column in laptop view to find archived posts about Tarot card meanings, Tarot behind-the-scenes, Q&A and more.

See you at the next sip!

Second Chances come at the price of learning

Sage Sips Blog is Tarot in the time it takes to sip your coffee.

Private readings (not ads) support this blog & the YouTube channel: Order HERE

Prices $5 to $35 Open all holiday season!

Page of Cups: life is full of distractions, but you can still learn to plumb the depths of emotion

Judgement: Second chances come at the high cost of changes

Choose Your Card Tarot: week of 15 April 2024

Sage Sips blog is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee.

Want an affordable private Tarot reading? Click HERE and scroll the list. Prices and layouts for every question and budget.

Ugh…forgot to set the thumbnail AGAIN. Sorry about that. Guess your choices are that half-covered one on the right, the Flippy one in the middle, or the normal one on the left.

Am thinking about doing next week’s CYC with the non-RWS oracle-like Alleyman’s Tarot cards. What do you think? Or would you prefer the classic Pamela Smith artwork for a while? Lenormand? Comments are open if you have an opinion or any questions at all.

Ace of Swords: Head rules heart this week. Listen to your emotions but try not to let them cloud your thinking. Decisive action is needed.

High Priestess: It may feel like other people may know more than you, but they don’t know more about you. Don’t sell yourself short. You are the absolute expert about you. You know best what you need even when what you need is help or guidance.

Judgement: The boat never moves forward if people on the boat are all rowing in different directions. Use clear-headed judgement combined with courage to put the most harmful people off the boat and onshore all together. The boat moves forward very slowly if there is no one left to help you row. Use clear-headed judgement combined with wisdom to be be as generous as you safely can with second chances.

Deck: Alleyman’s Tarot, used with permission

You Choose Card of the Week (22 Jan 24)

The people and the numbers have spoken! Introducing an interactive and personal single card meditation card of the week Tarot reading

Private readings are open. Order HERE anytime, no appointment needed.

Interactive: Please watch the video and choose your card.

After the reveal, scroll down for your card reading.*

The people and the numbers have spoken.

I’ve gotten some nice feedback about the “you choose” style of readings. It makes the reading feel more personal than a single collective card BUT the shorter format is better than the longer layouts. I’m still tweeking the timing to give enough time to choose and enough time to see your card. That part will improve in coming weeks.

So BEHOLD! One card meditation readings are back but in you choose style! I plan to do these as a guidance card for the week, but if you have any suggestions or feedback as we go along, I’m open to that – and so are the comments below. Or click over to the Ask Me Anything page and, well, you know what to do. Unless I hear something drastically different, I plan to flow with this for a while. The general plan is for “You Choose” on Mondays, “Learn With Me” posts on Wednesdays, Freestyle on Fridays (I won’t promise those will even be Tarot related) and the weekly Substack newsletter at some point during the weekend.

THAT being said, let’s get on to the good stuff, the cards.

Nine of Cups

I hear “happy endings” from a song that I don’t recognize. Might be something from the 90s, but I can’t dial it in enough to tell. This card is about just exactly that – happy endings.

Classically this card is often associated with contentment and family / holiday gatherings. I often get a fall & winter holiday vibe from it. This feels more like a January card – the holidays are in the rear view mirror and last year is well and truly tucked away.

Earlier today, Theresa Reed posted her card of the week as the Fool…new beginnings. These cards are two sides of the same large zeitgeist energy.

If you chose this card, this is a good vibe week. Things are wrapped or wrapping up in a good way that makes room to roll up your sleeves and get after whatever is next.

Ace of Cups

Cups typically symbolize emotion, intuition, and our closest relationships be they friends, family or romance. The ace always seems closer to the emotion and intuition aspect of the suit than the relationship aspect of it. That is very much the case for today. This card feels more off to the side and individualized than the nine does.

The nine feels like the big, collective energy card but the ace feels much more one to one. There is no way for me to ever know this, but it would be interesting to how many people chose which card. I wonder if more people picked the “collective” card and fewer people picked this one because this is the one they really needed.

If you picked the Ace of Cups today, first of all, well done for following your own intuition instead of the collective energy. This card feels like a validation of just that – your own creativity and instincts. “Muse” comes to mind. Your creative muse may well drop something in your lap soon, if it hasn’t happened already. When inspiration comes, this card is encouraging you to follow it at the same time it is giving you a pat on the back for your natural ability to hear and follow that kind of inspiration.

Judgement

This card stands out as being the only major arcana card of the three.

The energies this week may be important for you and are worthy of your attention and contemplation. Pay attention to the spirit part of your mind, body & spirit life balance.

Give yourself second chances. Never waste a good second chance.

By the same token, use your heart and head so that a second chance isn’t needed. Honor what you know and need and what you know you need. the first time around.

As a secular person, the religious iconography in Pamela Smith’s artwork for this card is always more annoying than inspiring for me. If you picked this card but it just isn’t resonating, by all means, please look for the inspiration you feel. Try googling the Judgement card and looking at other decks to see if another version of the card speaks to you more than this one.

I’ve found that many decks rely on this kind of imagery and options are hard to find. My favorite right now is “Karma” from Ellen Dugan and Mark Evans’ Witches Tarot which uses and eclipse and the term karma to bring ideas like contemplating the consequences of our choices and renewal. There may be dark time during an eclipse but light returns on the other side.

Thank you all for reading. Next up, in Learn With Me, we continue two card Lenormand readings.

See you at the next sip!

*if it went by too fast – left was 9 of cups, center was ace of cups and right was Judgement.

You Choose Interactive New Year Tarot 2024

Pathway Tarot readings for the New Year. Happy 2024 everyone!

Tarot doesn’t tell you exactly what is going to happen in life. Tarot helps you figure out what to do when life happens.

What path do you choose for 2024?

So much is up to you – it’s your choice what you do with what you are handed. Emotions bubble up, but you choose what you do about them.

Sorry about the shreddy sounding voice and disorganized presentation (there are reasons why I’m a writer type Tarot reader and not a social media influencer) but watch the video, pick a path. 

This shows some of my choices for 2024.The YouTube channel is all companion videos showing the real world card draw for the day. The video has short commentary in the description, but the full reading is here in the blog. I don’t like talking on video, so there you are. I hope you’ll watch and read to get the best of both worlds.

Looking at all the rows together we see lots of major arcana and court cards. I think that is hinting at a big energy year. Lots of change, a real roller coaster ride. Plant good seeds, set a good foundation now so our roller coaster ride ends up in a good place.

Top Row – Quartz

Clear quartz is the universal amplifier. It turns up the volume on your connection to universal energies and the effects of other stones and crystals. This may be your year to be the helper. Speak your truth and let it be heard.

Fading Energy: 10 of Swords. I’m guessing that 2023 was a heckuva year for you. This card isn’t hinting that anything dire is going to happen. It’s hinting that it already has. HEAL. Let yourself be down, make a full assessment of everything that has happened so you can stand up again. I always connect this card to the proverb “fall down seven times but get up eight.”

Current Energy: Queen of Swords. This is a card of accepting your power. Give yourself a little dose of confidence. It isn’t arrogant to do the things you are good at doing. If you don’t want to think of yourself as being good at something, then do the things you LOVE to do. Often they are the same thing.

Growing Energy: Strength. This card is just what it seems. Heal from what has happened, get up again, claim your strengths. Confidence and strength can grow as time goes on.

Middle Row – Orange Calcite

Calcite comes in a variety of colors, but the orange calcite here is especially associated with the second chakra, below the navel. Orange is the opposite of blue on the color wheel, so orange calcite can poetically speaking “chase away the blues.” Of all of orange calcite’s properties cleansing and uplifting step forward here.

Fading energy: Judgement. This also gives me the feeling that you center row folks had a heckuva year, but more on the mental and emotional level than in the physical / career realm. Let go of other people’s judgement of you and give yourself a second chance whether anyone else does or not. Humans are a diverse lot. There is someone, somewhere who accepts you just exactly as you are, no judgments or second chances required.

Current energy: Hermit. Nothing is better for letting go of old hurts than a little alone time. Give yourself the space to shut out all the judge-y voices. Set some boundaries, find your one guiding light. When you come out of your hermit cave, a fresh start will be right there waiting for you. Any day can be the first day of a new year.

Growing energy: Queen of Wands. This is a card of self care too, but it has an element of claiming your own time, skills, strengths and powers. The energy feel of this card is very much like the queen of swords and it feels like the queen of wands is standing in as surrogate simply because the queen of swords can’t be in two places at the same time. Putting it in those words, I get a sense that the year may be growing in activity. It could get busy. Whether that heaping plate of things to do is a good thing or a stressful thing is up to you.

Foundation Row – Red Carnelian

Red carnelian is a stone of courage, endurance and leadership. You never know what you have inside until it is put to the test. One way to discover your comfort zone is to step outside of it. But don’t worry, if you can’t step back in to the old zone, it will grow out to meet you. You got this.

Fading energy: The High Priestess. This is a card of mystique and mystery. When mystery fades it often leaves certainty in its wake. This card reminds me of a quote by scientist Richard Feynman “I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned.” Know with confidence, but question everything with equal energy.

Current energy: Five of Swords. Sword cards often denote action. Now that I think about it, the word aftermath is stepping forward here. The past three years have been pretty unhinged on the macro scale, if not on your individual one too. This card is validating what you feel, but also challenging you to rise to the circumstances. “Yeah, that sucked, but now what are you going to DO about it?” is the vibe.

Growing energy: The Empress. Get back to nature, baby. This is a big reminder to touch some grass this year, literally and figuratively. Somewhere I read about a study where people’s blood pressure came down a little bit whenever they looked at pictures of nature. That isn’t to say pictures of nature cure high blood pressure, but that objective, measurable change showed that we associate nature with relaxation and even that tiny bit of contact was enough to elicit a tiny bit of measurable, physiologic stress reduction.

Whether it is a new computer wallpaper, a walk in the park, a day at the beach or a week long camping trip…anything you can do to connect with nature is nothing but good this year. For goodness’ sake get outside and breathe some fresh air, will you?

And everybody wash your hands, wear a mask when you need to, get enough sleep and eat an occasional vegetable while you are at it.

I wish everyone a safe, happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

See you at the next sip!

Sage Sips is Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip your coffee.

Judgement and Action

Learn how to learn an oracle method along with me as I explore the new Publishing Goblin Oracle Dice

Hi and welcome to Sage Sips: a contemplation for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Thanks for being here. This free content is fueled by your private reading purchases, paid subscriptions and virtual ko-fi coffees and plenty of real coffee too.

Figures.

Second roll of the dice and I get my old nemesis, Judgement.

I have to admit, I like this one a lot better than the religion influenced Judgment card from Tarot major arcana. Almost giggled when I saw it, because for a split second I thought it was a muppet face.

Luckily the energy today is on the “use good judgement” side of things and not the Judgey McHubrispants side that pushes my religious trauma buttons.

Off the cuff intuition is on the order of … once you make a reasoned decision, it is pretty worthless without some sort of action. It might be one task, or a million little nuanced lifestyle decisions, but good judgement is tied to action nonetheless.

Quick note before we move on with this post – or this series of posts, actually. I know the singular of dice is die. But this is cyberspace and America in 2023. There is a pretty good chance that something automated is going to confuse the singular-dice word with the become un-alive word. Grammar be damned, I’m calling them all dice. I’m out here trying to help (and hopefully entice you to get a private reading) I can’t do that shadow banned. Talk about your Judgy McHubrispants.

Now – back to the Judgement symbol.

Think

This isn’t an IBM ad. I’m talking about that thing you do with your brain.

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

I’m glad I listened to pure impulse and picked up my Steampunk Tarot today. If you search the blog, you can see all the old posts about the Judgement card. I don’t know how much sense any of it makes. Some people have a significator card, a card they feel represents their essence. Or at least most of us have a card or two or a few that we resonate with more than the others. The judgement card, on the other hand, is my nemesis card. It pushes my buttons and pokes at old scars in ways that aren’t always helpful.

I love the steampunk deck’s version of Judgement though. It is the only Judgement card that doesn’t send me into a puddle of spiraling, evangelical induced post-traumatic babble like other versions the judgement and hierophant (aka pope) cards typically do.

The judgement card, like the rest of the major arcana, has at least two major threads of meaning woven into it.

One is the judgement day, face the music kind of judgement, not unlike how we might say a court judgement or a lawsuit judgement. The legal judgement also connects to the second thread…the decision making process itself. The word “reckoning” works here too. An older meaning for reckoning is to settle a debt or account. But it also means calculation or deciding, like “navigation by dead reckoning.” The biggest problem with judgement card is how easily it can slip into petty judgmentalism.

My least favorite representation of the Judgement card is, as you might expect, is the Waite Smith Tarot. Pamela Smith’s art is saturated with christian symbolism with angels, trumpets, dead looking naked people standing in graves. That whole rapture-ish resurrection second coming thing always gives me that nervous eye tick feeling. Past experience shows the slip to judgmentalism is very short with that kind of symbolism around.

Let’s just say if that kind of religion is your jam, go for it. For me it’s a jar jammed full of glowing green radioactive toxicity. In fact, in the back of my mind, I have always low key hoped that my Tarot work would help others who disliked and rejected by the American evangelicals as much as it has helped me to recover from a childhood in that subculture.

But today, thankfully, all of that is beside the point because the card is pointing to the other connotation, the “use your head” and “use good judgement” part of the card.

The Steampunk deck is good for steering intuition away from the Smith artwork. In fact, this artwork has the opposite effect. It could easily have a “face the music” connotation, but in her guidebook for the deck Aly Fell interprets it as “heeding a call.” That is a card meaning I can resonate with. Not so much a judgement in the traditional sense, not so much answering a “calling” in the religious sense, but rather a actively thinking about our life path and thinking about the meaning we infuse into what we do.

The image also calls to mind some of my favorite D.J. and E.D.M. music like Mystery Skulls and Daft Punk. It taps into my cyberpunk side as much as the Steampunk aesthetic for some reason.

It all takes me to a happy place of thinking and reason perfectly blended with abstract ideas and creativity.

It’s a personality thing that works for some people more than others. It also brings to mind Myers-Briggs personality categories. Today’s card is a comfort zone for all the thinkers, all the people with a T as the third of their four letter category. This is one for my fellow geeks.

For feelings people, those with the “F” in their code, it might be more challenging. It might be harder for them to let their head rule their heart for whatever challenges life might pose for them.

Challenge or comfort zone, the call the Judgment card is asking us to heed is a simple one: Think.

Thank you all for reading and listening!

While no appointment needed email Tarot readings by the author are available to order on the blog website, the blog itself and the podcast are not monetized. Your Tarot message comes first, not an advertiser’s. Please visit the TaoCraft Tarot page on ko-fi where the shop, memberships and virtual coffees all support the creation of this (almost) daily Tarot content.

Harshness Begets Chaos

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today: The judgement card and rising from the ashes

https://youtube.com/shorts/IPTsVtFKL7o?feature=share

Welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip Tarot. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is Judgement.

If you have read the blog for a while, you probably already know this card is one of my nemesis in the deck. Both Judgement and the Hierophant as it is drawn in the RWS deck is a little trigger-ish. Luckily it isn’t the religious judgement day aspect of the card stepping forward here.

On the other hand, who the heck uses the word “begets” outside of Shakespeare and the old Testament? The phrase “Harshness Begets Chaos” just dropped into my head when I turned the card this morning, so I’ll roll with it. It must mean something to somebody out there in cyberspace.

I’m not the only one, by the way. When I say “dropped into my head” it refers to that pop of an idea that cartoons used to show as a light bulb turning on over a character’s head. My husband and our martial arts teacher call it “getting the download.” So when the muses, or spirit or intuition or your higher self or whatever you want to call it drops an idea into your head through your crown chakra like a fed ex delivery with an attitude, pay attention. It probably means something one way or another.

“Begets” is an odd word. So let’s say that harshness…or in the context of this card….harsh judgement results in chaos. It can be shattering to a young or vulnerable person. The word shattering also comes to mind. Although the artwork on this particular card is fluid and the word melt would be better than shattered, hard sharp edges of shattered emotions better describes the feelings that harsh judgement can evoke. On the card, the clear eyed image of a bird melts into poorly defined shapes and swirling colors.

It is beautiful the way the artist connects Judgement to a blue jay and, as the Alleyman’s notebook points out, a rising energy not unlike that of a phoenix rising from the ashes. This is where this newer card and the older RWS card overlap. Even within the religious imagery there is a notion of second chances, or rising up from a bad situation. If you have been on the receiving end of bigotry, or judgmentalism or shattered by other harsh circumstances, this can be seen as reassurance that you can rise from that. Know that you are seen by the universe.

The clear eyed bird sees those who can rise above. The clear eyed bird sees those who would tear down.

Ted Andrews associated blue jay energy with the Two of Swords and “the right use of power.” That is where today’s card veers from judgmentalism into judgement as in good judgement or use your own judgement.

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Use your judgement when to be strong and when to be gentle.

But remember, the two are often the exact same thing.

Thank you so much for reading and listening! Thank you for all of your likes, subs, shares, blog follows, reading orders, questions and comments. Comments are open on the blog, so please let me know what you think, and what you want to see and hear in the blogcast.

Speaking of the blogcast, please visit the expanded TaoCraft Tarot page on ko-fi. It has a shop, exclusive member content, a way to order custom commissioned work and is so much more than just a virtual tip jar. Please take a look and support the blogcast.

The blog and podcast will be quiet for the next four or five days, but I’ll still see you at the next sip. Have a good weekend!

YouChoose Interactive Tarot

Happy Holidays everyone!

This is the last YouChoose reading of 2021, and if everything works the way it should, it will be the first video in the podcast stream before the name changes in January 2022. I’m changing Clairvoyant Confessional to TaoCraft Tarot Podcast, and it will be, at least partially, an audio version of the blog here. This is still going to be the only place with ALL of the content in one place, so I hope you will sit tight and follow the blog BUT you have the option to listen if you prefer.

Speaking of listening – I’ll leave you to listen to the YouChoose video. I hope your time of winter quiet and contemplation is a wonderful one.


Holiday Hours: still have no idea exactly what time things will happen this week. All I know is that E-mail Tarot is OPEN all season long. The holidays can be as weird as they are wonderful, as disconcerting as delightful…all alliteration aside, if a Tarot reading would be of some comfort, I got you. Order anytime, 24/7 no appointment needed.

In-person and Party Tarot are currently closed and will re-open based on covid-19 community transmission rates as reported by the CDC for Allegheny County PA. As of today, 12-14-21 the transmission rate is HIGH.