Tag: love tarot

Hello from the omnibus

Just checking in – how are you all doing?

I feel like there are a thousand other things I should be doing, but if you can’t follow your instincts in a Tarot blog, where can you? There is no reason for this post other than to say hello and hopefully reconnect with the whole blog and newsletter thing. It’s been a weird winter for me and this newsletter hasn’t gotten the energy and attention it deserves. That whole “Sage Words Tarot” thing was a huge detour. TaoCraft is home and I’m back. I hope to hear from you moving forward. 2025 is still young and my website has an easy to use contact form for any questions or comments that you might have. That includes questions for a free Tarot reading of some sort in the public blog. It’s a fair trade, I think. You get a free sample-size reading and I get writing inspiration. Deal?

In the meantime…

There has been a weird, strange, surreal energy during the holidays right through until now that reminded me of 2020. Don’t get me wrong – I’m NOT predicting a pandemic an you should listen to science about all of the bird flu, flu-A, RSV and measles worries out there. Not to mention the slow moving juggernaut of an utter political catastrophe unfolding in America right now. Compound that with some epic personal stress, and the time since Thanksgiving has been, well – unproductive. High levels of BLAH mixed with high anxieties is the best way I can describe the feel of it.

Stepping out from the psychological fog leftover from this winter, I wanted to say hello and tell you how thankful I am to have you all as readers and Tarot clients. It is so very appreciated!

On the outside chance there is anyone new here, I’ll add a little to the hello so you can know who is behind this whole Sage Sips Substack.

Hello! My name is Sage, I read Tarot, write things and knit stuff.

Sage is a pen name to try to provide privacy for both of us. It is inspired the double meaning the word sage has in English. It can be a plant with remarkable aromatherapy properties; comforting, negativity clearing, uplifting and empowering. It also means wise advice or a person who is wise. I believe Tarot is all about exactly those things. Tarot can lead us to wise advice at the same time as it calms anxieties, inspires us, and empowers us. It’s always an honor to be part of that process for someone. But like I always say…

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

What I do –

Tarot readings by email (and phone by special arrangement – contact me for details and scheduling)

What I don’t do –

Predict the future.

How I do it –

Transparently, conveniently and privately. All of my policies are TaoCraftTarot.com for the world to see.

All of my prices are for the total reading – not per minute. Your reading gets all of my attention, however long it -no clock watching – which is one of the many advantages of working by email. There are no time constraints or appointment needed for email. No hidden fees. No spam.

If you want a reading, you have to let me know. I don’t have the time or energy to contact anyone individually and offer readings. If you get that, it ain’t me. Did I mention, no spam is tolerated here or on the website, incoming OR outgoing?

Email readings are super convenient –

You can purchase an email reading from my ko-fi page, no appointment needed. There are several different layouts to choose from, which let’s YOU choose the layout (and price) that fits your question (and budget) the best. I use ko-fi because the check out is PayPal secured and lets you send me your topic or question for the reading all in one easy transaction…no more delays while I ask for your question / permission for an open reading.

Email readings are perfect for busy schedules –

You don’t have to set aside travel time – the reading comes to you. You don’t use one drop of expensive gasoline.

In addition to being super convenient, email readings are extra private. No one sees you going to a psychic. You open and read your email in a time and place that is right for you.

Phone readings work by contacting me. We will set up an appointment time. Then I’ll send you a secure PayPal invoice and you call the phone number provided at your appointment time. All the details about appointments are on the policy page.

What a reading looks like:

All of my readings follow the same basic format. It starts with a photo of your real world layout. Then there is a “general pattern” section where we talk about the layout as a whole. That’s followed by a card-by-card discussion. Then it all wraps up in a “psychic summary” that includes any other impressions. It might relate to the cards, or it might be pure intuition. This part often includes aromatherapy and crystal recommendations but this final summary is very attuned to your personal message and there is no guarantee what it will or won’t include.

Relationship readings:

I do lots of those, but mine are probably different from what you’ve had before.

My readings focus totally on you. I follow the same professional ethics as holistic health providers. I don’t read other people’s energies without their permission. That means relationship readings won’t predict who you will marry or if you’ll get back together with your ex or if your crush loves you back. Relationship readings are for any kind of relationship and simply give advice to help you give your best in your part in the relationship.

Wealth and money readings:

Wealth and money readings tend to focus on your career and what you can DO to find your best path forward in your career or in any part of the physical realm. I’m not a career counselor, or a financial advisor – and did I mention that Tarot can’t predict the future?

Medical, pregnancy and legal questions:

Nope.

I won’t answer those. Tarot is terrible with those kinds of questions. I’m not wasting my time or your money on a question that is best left to other professionals. We should spend our time on the things Tarot that does very well: Easing troubled emotions, finding inspiration, creative problem solving, stress reduction, diversion and entertainment.

Sage Sips is the name of my blog and Substack. I love coffee. I love pithy Tarot advice. Sage Sips is Tarot in the time it takes to sip your coffee.

TaoCraft Tarot is the name of my website and the book I plan to write about how to read Tarot. It is a reflection of the philosophy behind my 30 years of Tarot and intuition development.

And that is pretty much it in one big omnibus nutshell.

Your turn!

Feel free to say hi in the comments or in the contact form.

I’m also on Bluesky if you want to say hi there. It’s the one social platform where I’ll actually talk to people instead of just like and repost.

Thank for reading! See you at the next sip!

My Tarot Valentine eBook

My Tarot ebooks are available in the Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot shop. Private readings are open, no appointment needed

Click HERE to purchase and download My Tarot Valentine

Email Tarot readings are my specialty. With 30 years of Tarot experience to each layout, I give you the exact same information as in a face to face reading. As a writer, I can give these readings vivid depth and detail. Excellent for book lovers or anyone wanting privacy and no appointment needed convenience.

Order private email readings here.

New in the shop: My Tarot Valentine

Click to purchase – instant download from the ko-fi shop

My Tarot Valentine is a collection of vintage love and romance Tarot blog posts, condensed instruction how to do one Tarot meditations, and a peek behind the scenes of doing a professional romance Tarot reading. (pdf download, 44 pages formatted to A4, standard us copy paper)

Throwback Tarot: Valentine Q&A

Romance Tarot Q&A: What do the Lovers card and the Ace of Cups mean in a romance reading?

Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blogcast. I’m glad you are here. This is the updated version of a post from Valentine season 2015:

Q: What does the combination of the Lovers Card and the Ace of Cups card mean in a tarot reading when the question is about romance?

A: It depends.

This where Tarot reading gets complicated. This is exactly why professionals charge for their services. It takes time, experience and deliberate effort to learn how to fit multiple cards together like this, especially when there is a specific context or question like romance. Good for you for taking it on and giving it such thoughtfulness! Thank you for sharing your question. I appreciate the opportunity to give everyone a behind the scenes peek at multiple card Tarot readings.

Even when you are only dealing with a one card meditation, context matters. What was the question you asked, specifically? What kind of general energy did you sense from the cards? Advice? Caution? Validation? Acknowledgement? Something else? Is there any purely intuitive impressions coming through beside the basic card meanings? Of all of the card meaning available in references and “little white books” did any of those meanings jump out at you?

Now take all of those one card considerations and raise them to the power of 2 or more cards. Understanding a full layout asks you to take all of the single card things into account than layer the card spread considerations on top. What layout were you using? What position were these cards within that layout? What meaning did those layout positions have? Professionals think about all those things as we do a reading. That’s why I always have my Tarot reading students start with a one card daily meditation practice before moving on to multiple cards.

The more cards, the more exponentially complicated the reading becomes. Which is why I don’t use large layouts like the Celtic Cross for myself or for my clients. In my experience after 7 cards or so a reading gets real gnarly, real fast. For me seven cards is the tipping point where the reading becomes more confusing than helpful.

Now take all of that technical stuff and multiply it again by ethical considerations. Romance readings are a special kind of difficult because of the other person involved. Unless you have the significant other person’s direct, real-world permission to read about them, then the reading has to focus only on the person getting the reading. Even when you are doing the reading for yourself and it seems internal and private, you still must respect the other person’s wishes on an energy level. If you don’t get a sense of the other person, then that’s it. The reading is about you and you alone. Other people have every right to keep their thoughts, feelings, intentions and energy to themselves. The key is to look for advice about how YOU can help the relationship to be the best it can be. Don’t try to know what the other person thinks or feels or will do. Try to know what is the highest and best for your part in the relationship. That focus on you applies to both the readings that you do for yourself and any relationship readings a professional does on your behalf.

All of that aside, we still haven’t tried to understand these particular two cards.

For example if the Ace of Cups is in a layout position that represents “a lesson from your past,” you might get a different overall message than if the Lovers was in that position. For example, if we interpret the Ace as “inner light” (as Diane Morgan does) then Ace of Cups as a “lesson from the past” layout position within a romance reading might be asking you to bring your inner wisdom to the question. It might ask if the relationship is making your inner light brighter or making it dimmer. How is the relationship’s effect on your inner light similar or different from past relationships?

Now switch things around. The Lovers card symbolizes your deepest desires. If the lessons from the past is to look at desires and what you’ve learned from them…the message may be more on the order of “be clear about what you desire for this romance.” In the lessons from the past position of a layout, that might change the Lovers’ advice. Or it may be asking you to think about how your romantic hopes and dreams have evolved over time. Do you still want the same thing from this romance as you used to?

So by extension…if you change the card’s layout positions and position meanings, you may not change the card’s basic meaning, but you do change the underlying message. The same card in a different layout position and in combination with different cards does changes the whole reading in some big ways. It’s a lot to think about but those layers upon layers of meanings are the difference between a good reading and truly masterful one.

So the real answer to your question is that I can’t tell what the two cards mean together without knowing more about the layout you used and the question you asked. It would be better to talk about those things in private. I never put private or identifying information in the blog.

I hope this helps a little. Let me know if you want to set up a private second opinion lesson or if you would rather have me do a new and more current reading for you.

Thank you everyone for reading and listing to this vintage post from my TarotBytes Blog on the old Modern Oracle Tarot website. I still do this kind of second opinion Tarot consulting. They are supportive, judgement free, and education oriented. The consults are available on the no appointment needed tab at the top of this page for blog readers. I’ll put a link in the episode description for podcast listeners.

See you next time in the TaoCraft Tarot blog cast for a Valentine’s Day You Choose Interactive Tarot reading.

My Tarot Valentine: Don’t Romance Hangry

It’s a reflex.

It’s so easy that it is almost impossible to stop yourself from snapping at loved ones when you are stressed, cranky, tired, hangry or pushed to the limit by whatever. It’s proximity, just like the nerve reflexes your doctor checks with the little rubber hammer thingy. Particular nerve reflexes are wired so that they basically short out across the spinal cord and bypass the brain entirely. Your leg moves with the hammer boink without you thinking about it or willing it to do it…or not do it. It’s the same brain-bypass that lets you snap your hand back from a hot pan so you don’t get burned.

Reflexes bypass language editing centers. I don’t know about you, but when one of those injury avoiding ‘ouch’ reflexes happen, it is usually accompanied by at least “OW” and usually a swear or two. Reflexes happen faster than cognitive processing, they don’t go all the way to the brain and have a shorter distance for the nerve impulse to travel, for a simplified way to look at it.

The same is true when we are under stress. It is quick and easy to take it out on loved ones because, with any kind of luck, they are relatively close at hand. The stress has a short distance to travel. If you are the stressed one, it is hard to stop yourself from doing that. If you are the one in the splash zone of your loved one’s stress, it is hard to stop yourself from getting reflexively defensive and splashing a little bit too.

I’ve learned this from my spouse who is a freaking saint to put up with me my crankies, but taking care of yourself is an act of love for the ones you are closest to. Get a nap, have a snack, whatever it is that works to manage your stress…DO it. You’ll be doing a favor for your own mental health as well as giving a token of affection to those who you love…and who love you.

Best Contact

Over the next week or so, I won’t be available by telephone or voicemail. You are more than welcome to text, send email or contact me through social media.

There will probably be some delivery delays for email readings. I wish I could be more specific, but it all hinges on when mom’s lab tests come back and when she is discharged from the hospital again.

To be perfectly honest, I can’t work down there in that energy environment. I’ve tried before and it didn’t go well. This ties in with some of the upcoming posts that I have planned. Those might not happen until I get home either, so let’s just say I’ll explain everything later when I get home. It is all Tarot how-to, behind the scenes, my side of the reading table type stuff. It really does relate to intuition, Tarot, spirituality, all that sort of thing. I hope you’ll stay tuned and take a peek.

That being said, for the rest of January I’ll be posting Taraffirmations and quotes instead of 12 Second Tarot ot You Choose Tarot posts. Then starting Febrary 1st, look for a revival of the Modern Oracle / Tarotbytes blog series “My Tarot Valentine.”

I’m just deeply grateful for the internet connection down there. It’s not super serious, medically speaking, but a fragile elderly lady needs a little tlc, and that just happens to put me in an environment 1. Makes me a little nuts and 2. Makes it impossible for me to do any sort of Tarot or Reiki work.

I’m also deeply grateful for all of you reading this and following TaoCraft Tarot on the socials. Don’t forget the FREE digital ink magic email reading on the specials page. It might take a few days to get it to you but, I promise, it will get there eventually.