Welcome Back 2025 (part 2)

Sometimes you have to retreat a little bit in order to walk forward again on a better path.

Some years feel like more of the same. This is not one of those years.

2025 is still a welcome back of sorts – a welcome back to inevitable, unending change and a welcome back to TaoCraft. There is nothing wrong with retreating to familiar or comforting things in unprecedented times like these. It’s the right thing to do when mistakes have been made. Sometimes you have to retreat a little bit in order to change direction and walk forward again on a better path.

A pattern emerged from all of the readings I’ve been doing since mid November or so. The details were different and the message was unique to the individual but at the same time there was a similar thread of energy running through all of them. The series of readings taken as a whole was giving background context and clues to our shared energy environment.

Basically, the meta-message was 2025 was going to be a storm of turbulent energy followed by “a happy ending” with better times in 2026. Sure, that sounds like wishful thinking. Life has been ups and downs, good times and bad times since time immemorial. Even though it is only the first half of January, a better 2026 is a teeny-tiny glimmer of optimism so I’ll take it, wishful or not.

Change is key. Things can get worse if they change but by the same token things can only get better if they change. Imagine a bright colored dot on the side of a bicycle wheel. As the wheel turns, metaphorically moving forward through time, first the dot appears to move down toward the ground, but then it moves up again and the cycle repeats. It all goes back to Taoist philosophy which has always been a tremendous comfort and makes sense out of life for me. Hence the name TaoCraft. But we’ve already talked about that back in 2018 when I took up the name the first time.

There are a few other minor changes for 2025. This will be the first full year of reverting back to the TaoCraft Tarot name for the website, commissioned readings, and hopefully, for a Tarot how-to eBook. All things “Sage Words Tarot” have been allowed to expire. The best way to contact me is TaoCraftTarot@gmail.com or the contact form on the Ask Me Anything page. Members can add ko-fi DM to the list.

“A thought is powerful. The spoken word is more powerful, but the written word is the most powerful of all”

Sallie Christensen, author of “The Highest And Best”

The next change is putting live readings on hiatus. I’m a writer at heart. I want to focus on email readings, which are my specialty. Email lets me do my absolute best readings for you. #kofigoalchallenge

Recorded video readings are also available if you prefer to listen rather than read (random unrelated opinion: audio books count the same as reading physical paper books.) Speaking of books: email & recorded video Tarot readings are perfect for book lovers of every type. My Tarot is a reader’s reading.

The email / recorded format has a ton of advantages:

  • Convenient: no appointment needed, the reading comes to you instead of you going to it. Easy, secure PayPal checkout is just like ordering anything online.
  • Eco friendly: no travel, no gasoline used, we are using electricity that we would be using anyway for other email. This kind of reading has essential zero carbon footprint.
  • AFFORDABLE: my email Tarot prices haven’t changed in years. No physical location = cost savings that I pass along to you.
  • Private: You open the email in a place and time best for you. No one sees you travel to a psychic.

But to get back to the task at hand: here is a quick introduction to all things TaoCraft. After that, I’m dropping all the “marketing best practices” and crazy pants promotions, just as I’ve threatened to do in the past. I’m going to do what I do best – email readings and blog readings. If that doesn’t work – welp, I tried. We can leave these recommended “re-introduce yourself” posts for New Years.

On the other hand, if you like what you see and want a reading with me, great! Bring it! Let’s work together and make some magic!

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

Albert Einstein

Let’s start at the beginning and try to keep it all simple. My pen name is Sage. I read Tarot, write stuff and knit things. I’ve been working with Tarot, Oracle cards and intuition development since 1993. At first I read for myself & friends. In 2003 – ish a friend suggested that I read online, for which I am forever grateful. I did email Tarot readings for Keen, Advice Trader and AllExperts in the early 2000s. I’ve done literally hundreds of email readings. I stopped counting at 400 and that was around 2003. After that, I started professional Tarot readings with my own website Modern Oracle Tarot, with its Tarotbytes blog and the now defunct Quirk & Flotsam Etsy shop.

In 2018 I re-branded the whole thing to TaoCraft Tarot. In 2023 I wanted unleash the coffee lover in me and make full use of ko-fi’s “buy me a coffee” metaphor for support donations. So I switched again to Sage Words Tarot and the whole Sage Sips blog is Tarot in the time it takes to sip your coffee thing.

That, as it turns out, was a miscalculation.

So Welcome Back. 2025 is a year of change; a change back to TaoCraft Tarot for private readings and book titles while keeping Sage Sips for the blog and ko-fi page.

To that end, the blogs will post 2-3 times per week and you can order a private email or video Tarot reading with me anytime, 24/7 – no appointment required.

The email reading comes to your mailbox as a .pdf or .docx attachment, usually within 24 hours . There might be some delays if you order on a US holiday, nights (US eastern time) or weekends. Video files are still too big for email attachments. If you order a video reading, you’ll get an email with a private link to your recording.

All of my readings generally have the same basic structure:

  • Photo or video of your real world cards
  • general pattern (the card layout as a whole, any initial psychic / intuitive impressions
  • Card-by-card discussion
  • Summary that recaps the layout as a whole plus adds in any other purely intuitive impressions. That often includes things like crystals, colors, aromatherapy – any random helpful detail.

There is some variation. One card readings are purely intuitive. Yes/no readings tend to have a more unstructured, tongue in cheek, lighthearted style.

For 2025 I am offering 4 layouts all of the time, no specials or seasonal changes except for Sage Sip Members (more on that later)

  • “Seasons” 5 card year ahead Tarot reading: ($30 non-memebers, $25 members) Start at any point in the year – birthdays, anniversary, holiday, new year – get one card guidance for each of the upcoming seasons plus one theme card for the entire year.
  • “TaoCraft” 5 card Tarot reading: ($30 non-members, $25 members) This is the updated version of the old Modern Oracle layout that I wrote in 2003. Cards show influences from the past, current energy environment, advice and cautions, best path ahead, alternative path if you so choose.
  • “Zombie Cat” 3 card yes or no: ($15 non-members, $10 members) Get a concise yes or no answer plus advice and intuitive impressions based on the individual three cards.
  • Sage’s Sip” 1 card meditation: general intuitive advice or a focused follow-up to a recent larger layout ($5 non-members, FREE for members)

Sage Sips membership on Ko-fi is $5 per month and includes FREE 1 card email Tarot up to three per calendar month, discounts on larger layouts, exclusive content on the ko-fi members-only blog and random special offers.

This blog, social media, the YouTube channel, the public portion of the ko-fi blog are all free and non-monetized. Your Tarot message comes first, not an advertisers. Any ads you see benefit the platform and makes it free for me to use (a savings I pass along to you) All of this is supported by readers / listeners through the memberships, private readings and shop purchases.

All of my readings are commissioned, ephemeral folk art that is intended to inspire, empower, facilitate understanding, help creative problem solving, and boost your connection to your own spirituality & inner wisdom.

All of my policies are listed HERE.

“Tarot isn’t about what will happen in life. Tarot helps you figure out what to do when life happens.”

Sage Snow

Please note that these readings are about predicting the future, reading other people, medical or legal questions. Tarot doesn’t do these things very well. I don’t want to waste my time or your money when we can focus on the more helpful, uplifting stuff that Tarot is great at doing. This artwork is a hobby for me, not a business. I am as open and transparent with you as humanly possible, which is why I wrote the policies page. I only ask for compensation for my time and to help defray web hosting costs.

Thank you for hanging in with the longest post in a long time. I appreciate you! See you at the next sip!

Welcome Back 2025 (part 1)

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

Private readings by email are open to order 24/7, no appointment needed. Most arrive to your inbox within 24 hours of order confirmation. Get yours HERE.

Some years have a recycled, ‘lather, rinse, repeat’ feel about them just like 2021 & 2022 energy felt like a continuation of 2020. 2025 is not one of those kinds of years.

The advantage to reading for multiple other people, or a daily meditation practice for yourself is seeing larger patterns emerge over a period of time and across multiple readings. It is like a meta-reading that unfolds over the course of weeks instead of minutes.

One pattern I saw during the holiday into new year season was a message of progression through challenges and upheaval toward a “happy ending.” Almost all of the readings in the past few weeks have had a feeling of something good on the other side of whatever sh-tstorm comes our way in 2025. Intuitively, the energy came through as “happy endings,” the Avril Lavigne song “happy endings” and a sense of “2026.” In short, hang on, better things are on the other side.

Of course, things getting better means change. Change includes loss and grieving. Change includes letting go of bad things to make room for the good. Change includes the arrival of happy things, too.

2025 seems to be a year of change, and my goal for this year is to flow with that change as best as I can.

After all, that’s the Taoist approach. Time and time and time again, that philosophy has brought me enormous comfort in the most stressful times. I honor that. It’s right there in the name of this website, and hopefully, through the title of a book I hope to write: TaoCraft Tarot.

That’s the first change for 2025. This will be the first full year of TaoCraft 2.0, so to speak. “Sage Words Tarot” was heading toward all of the inauthentic ‘comply in advance’ fearfulness that led to adopting the TaoCraft name in place of “Modern Oracle” in the first darn place back in 2018.

Letting all the “Sage Words Tarot” stuff expire will save a little time and expense on my part, which in turn will help me keep prices steady for you.

The second change is that I’ll be focusing on email and pre-recorded video readings. If I’m honest with myself, that is the kind of reading that I do best. I write much more powerfully than I speak, and I speak with more impact when I can back up and edit. The end result is a superior quality reading for you, and a much more comfortable reading process for me. Steady prices, better process, best quality; it’s a win-win-win all around.

All of that being said, time flies when life is a squirrel rave.

They say re-introducing yourself and your services is a good idea, especially when you have a social media presence. Never did get all of the posts written that I wanted to do for a Fall refresh and re-introduction. Lesson learned. This is a once, at most twice per year thing.

This time around, I’ll condense it all into one post.

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough”

Albert Einstein

2025 might be a whole new thing, but welcome back to TaoCraft Tarot.

Please subscribe to Sage Sips tarot blog here on TaoCraftTarot.com so you don’t miss any new posts. (Use the subscribe bar in the right column on laptop/PC, scroll WAAYYY down for mobile users) Buttons to all the usual socials are on the home page.

You can also follow Sage Sips tarot content on Ko-fi and Substack (yes, I know, Substack – all the posts are free this time around)

Ko-fi members get free one card tarot readings by email, exclusive content on the ko-fi blog, special offers and discounts on larger tarot reading layouts.

#kofigoalchallenge