Choose Your Card: The Magician

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In this series of “Choose Your Card” posts, we are looking at topics instead of time. Instead of a “Card of the day” or a “look at the week ahead” let this reading guide whatever is on your mind.

At the same time, I’ll frame the reading through the lens of a major arcana card. We can grow our understanding of they major arcana card through the other cards.

I love when things have a little nuance, depth and complexity. This format adds YOUR intuition to the reading because YOU CHOOSE which card carries the best message for you. The lower cards help us understand the upper card and vice versa.

Choose a card.

Pause the video if you need more time to decide.

Restart to see the reveal.

Today’s major arcana companion card is the Magician. The magician often symbolizes manifestation, transformation, attraction. These are all about energy and energy is all about flow.

King of Pentacles: Manifesting money is one thing, but knowing what you want the money FOR is the real magic. If you want money to pay your bills and meet your needs focus on having those things, not on the money itself. Focus on the thing, not the money that helps you get it. More so if that thing the money helps you get is something intangible, one step beyond material things.

For example, think of someone who thinks they want money for an expensive car, but what they really want is the attention the car brings or the self worth that the attention brings. Focusing on manifesting or attracting money won’t be as powerful as focusing on the end product and core issue. In this example, don’t focus on gaining money, focus on gaining feelings of self-worth. Something like that is the real treasure that the Magician manifests and the King of of Pentacles protects.

Nine of Swords: Sometimes worry is worse than useless. Use real world stress management strategies to calm anxiety so your fear doesn’t become self fulfilling prophecy.

In their brilliant 1988 Oracle deck “Medicine Cards” Jamie Sams and David Carson frame the seemingly timid rabbit as a fearless warrior.

A rabbit could easily be paralyzed by fear. Bunnies are small, soft and don’t have a lot of protection. There are a bunch of bigger animals who would love to eat rabbit for dinner. But no. Rabbits use their small size to hide and their speed to run to that shelter. They are alert and literally get the jump on danger by being quick to run. Rabbit lives in happiness and contentment in the middle of a dangerous world by using its strengths which aren’t obvious at first. . Rabbit is a lesson in how to live with fear by facing it and dealing with it without wallowing in anxiety and potentially calling those fears into reality.

The nine of swords, as with rabbit, reminds us to deal with fears in real world ways so we don’t unintentionally activate the magician’s powers and call empty worries to us.

The Fool: A new beginning is the easiest magic of all. Take a deep breath. Remember every moment is a new one. Now begin again.

It’s said that every day above ground is a good one. It is also said that there is no time like the present. Clocks and calendars are man-made inventions. Life and energy is under no obligation to follow them.

There is only one moment: right here and right now. You can use it as a fresh start any time you want.


Thanks for watching and reading! Sage Sips blog is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee See you at the next sip!

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Spring Break and Summer Schedule

The day job has been a tiny bit extra the past couple of weeks while I’ve been covering for some vacationing folks, so I’m going to give myself a little bit of a vacation too – spring break in Tarot land if you will.

Thought I’d dig out some oldies but goodies out of the archives for this week, and then get back to new readings next week.

In fact, I have an idea for a weekly “Choose Your Card” series. Internet posts live forever, and focusing on a “card of the day” or a “card of the week” can get a little timey-wimey if you stumble on the posts a while after they were published. I believe the right message for you will find you when you most need regardless of when it was written, but some might argue that old readings lose value as time moves on. So my idea is this: draw a card for a theme or choose a theme for the reading that isn’t related to time. That’s how Tarot works best in my experience. Tarot tends to be abstract and conceptual and comes from outside of physical space and human-defined time anyway. That’s why distance Tarot readings work so well. (I have a page available that explains the whole distance Tarot thing HERE)

But back to the idea for that “choose your card” series.

I thought it might be fun to go through the major arcana and have the ‘choose your card’ post give you a more personalized insight into that major arcana card and how it might relate to you right now.

What do you think? I’ll start that project next week. That will give you plenty of time to drop any ideas or suggestions in the comments or use the “ask me anything” button on the home page. I’m always happy to hear what kind of Tarot content you would like to see in the blog.

Meanwhile, if you use the search bar on the right of the page (laptop or PC) or scroll way down to the search bar on the mobile version, then you can search & browse the archives to your hearts content. The old posts are mostly tagged by card, but moving forward I plan to tag each post by card AND topic(s) for easier browsing moving forward.

For example if you search “romance” here is one of the posts that come up. It is from 2011 on my old Tarotbytes blog.

“A Romance Tarot Reading with the Magician and the Lovers Cards”

Q: I met a man who seemed to be all anyone could want…a little older, financially stable, professional, interested in me. But he could be pushy, too, and he pushed me to go on a vacation together, his treat. Turns out he is a horrible gambler. The whole trip was a disaster…shocking. I keep attracting men like this, and after this experience I wonder if I will ever have a good relationship. I had a career reading with you last year, and liked the way you look at things. Can you give any insight to the romance side of things?

A: I think you are right…this experience was shocking, but it got your attention. It helped you see a pattern, and to realize you want something different. As traumatizing as it was in the short term…in the big picture this may actually be a valuable experience.

There are two tarot cards that are exquisitely applicable to your situation: The Lovers and The Magician.

They are both major arcana cards…which speaks to the power and importance of the things your are thinking about.

The Lovers symbolizes desire, and The Magician represents transformation and manifestation.

Your experience with this man, and the way it felt inevitable, shows it is an important and powerful lesson: it shows you that what is deep down matters more than the initial outward appearance…and that the deep down important stuff is what matters to you. Now you know. This will give you a wonderful contrast…the shadow to show you what you want to bring to light.

You know, now, what you DON’T want to repeat…the next step is to define in your mind, very clearly, what you DO want in a relationship…what you do want in your relationships an in your life. The feeling I got reading the first part of your story is that your connection with this man grew out of expectations…your hope for a relationship and what other people define as a good prospect…stable, professional etc etc. That doesn’t, as we see here, necessarily bring the intangible, subtle good things, like respect, caring, compassion, empathy….all those things that are REALLY important.

When I was younger, I saw a psychic, also wondering if I would ever be with anyone. She gave me an exercise…I may have mentioned this last time…that proved to be pure gold. Even if you’ve done this before…try again, start the exercise over, using your new insights and perspectives gained from the trip to vegas…

Make a list of all the things you want in a partner. What kind of relationship do you want? Marriage? Companionship? List every detail, literally, on paper. LIst physical things, interests, personality traits…anything, everything. Don’t put negatives…don’t say “not a gambler” put “enjoys ___________” That part is very important…the energy of the “not” might actually draw the undesirable trait to you rather than block it. Always list ONLY the things you WANT in a positive way.

Then release the list. Put it away, or, if you are inclined to such things, burn it in a respectful ritual of some sort. Whenever you feel the impulse, send a thought to the universe. Pray it…however it feels most powerful to you….not the whole list, just the feeling of desire for “the best of the list” or “husband for the highest and best”…something like that. Send the cry from your heart to the heart of outer space…then let go and trust the universe to guide you to the right path.

There are no time limits. There may be more things to learn along the way…but if you ask for the path to the best, you will find that highest and best journey, no matter how long it takes to get to the destination.


Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed a deep dive into the old Tarotbytes archive. More archives are available on “Sages Other Words” where I occasionally put off -Topic posts. Feel free to browse there too.

And that summer schedule? There isn’t any. I’m still going full Taoist and just following where intuition and the natural flow of things lead.

Distance readings are still available to order anytime 24/7 – no appointment needed. I usually get the reading to your inbox within 24 hours. If not I’ll be in touch with a delivery time if it is a holiday or some such thing. Distance readings in this case means email and recorded video formats.

The pen and paper readings take a while longer to wind their way through traditional snail mail, but honestly I think they are worth it. Sallie Christensen, one of the most gifted psychics I’ve ever met was right- thoughts are powerful, the spoken word is more so – but the written word is the most powerful of all.

See you at the next sip!

Gentle Integration

Private readings are open, no appointment needed!

Spiritual growth is not an exercise in mass consumerism.

It isn’t a contest to see who is the most woke, the most pious, the most serene, the most wise, the most anything.

It isn’t a sprint. It isn’t even a marathon. It is about the quality of this present moment. It is about you being happy with you – right here, right now.

The most important lessons in our personal growth and evolution and maturity and autonomy are often learned the hard way. They are often hard-won over significant amounts of time. So it is important not to diminish those lessons by moving on too soon.

The two of pentacles is about balance, but it is the quicker, dynamic equilibrium of a unicycle rider. Temperance is the balance of a glacier, it is the balance of Stonehenge.

Temperance is more than just balance, it is about integration.

Balance can be juggling two different things. Temperance’s type of balance is about integrating those two (or more) things into a stable, foundational new thing. The two of pentacles is a balls in the air, juggling kind of balance. Temperance is a low center of gravity, “weebles wobble but they don’t fall down” kind of balance. To borrow from Frank Herbert’s Dune, Temperance type of balance comes from Usul, the strength of the base of a pillar.

When a hungry person eats, they must then digest. The same is true of insights and epiphanies. The work of finding them is lost if we don’t integrate them.

We must change the big lessons and the big progress from a ball in the air that needs to be balanced into the integrated base of the pillar that imparts balance. This is why integration and transformation are integral parts of the Temperance card’s message of balance.

Live as your new self. Live your new truth. Make the new you an integral part of the old you. Then you can move forward again in certainty and – you guessed it – balance.

Next up: more “My Side of the Table” Tarot behind the scenes

See you at the next sip!

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.

The Devil is in more than the details (Newsletter 21 September 23)

Weekly digest 9-21-23

The Devil isn’t just in the details…it’s all over the darn place.

Life isn’t always pretty, so Tarot isn’t always pretty. Sometimes the best thing a reading can do for us is break through walls of denial, yank the rose colored glasses off of our faces and set some jade ones into their place.

The Devil card from the major arcana is the ultimate card for that aspect of Tarot. It’s up in your face with cold, harsh reality -usually just when you need it most. It isn’t a call to fear. It is a call to courage.

There are reasons why positivity can go toxic. If there is nothing but light you are just as blinded as you are in pitch dark. It takes both light and shadow to see.

The Devil card’s reminder of the dark side can vary anywhere from the common sense to the dire and dramatic. The purpose isn’t to scare you – the purpose is to put you on an appropriate level of guard. Have batteries in the flashlight when a storm is forecast. Park in well lit areas and have your keys ready as you go to your car. Have the hard conversation with your significant other. Admit people you care about have the capacity to make bad political choices – and sometimes do.

There are gnarly things out there in the world. The Devil card reminds us that there are people out there who really don’t have your best interest at heart and this might be a good moment to take stock, face facts, and be safe.

Weekly Digest:

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Once in a Blue Moon

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There is a Moon vibe still out there.

Two days ago was a “blue moon.” It’s not common, but it’s not spectacular. It’s not something that is going to grab you by the nose and make you look. A blue moon is just two full moons in the same calendar month. It is a subtle thing because most of us go through life not knowing what phase the moon is in on any given night. No matter what the cool social media graphics show, the moon is the same color it always is.

It was also a “super” moon. Google “perigee” and “apogee.” Orbits aren’t perfect circles. They are off a little, just a tiny bit ovalish and wobbly. Sometimes the moon passes just a little bit closer to earth and seems a tiny bit big-ish because of it. That’s a so-called super moon — any full moon during a close perigee kind of orbit.

These little details don’t happen often, and they both happen at the same time less often, but it is still one of those natural cycles we’ve been talking about. It’ll be a while, but there will be another super blue moon in time.

Super moons and blue moons are slow and subtle things. So are tides and seasons and the growth of trees. That’s the kind of changing and shifting energy that has been around lately. Slow, gradual, gentle change but change nonetheless. Even continental drift will get you to the other side of the planet eventually.

I suspect energies will move on come Monday’s Energy Path reading. It feels like the gentle cycle change has peaked and is drifting beyond. Here I again I intuitively hear the song “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Beyond Thunderdome)” It seems like energies are gently moving beyond thunderdome, not back to paradise.

Weekly Digest:

Last Week’s Energy Path (three card Tarot reading)

Wednesday Oracle

Coming Soon:

Monday — Energy Path for September 4–11

Wednesday — “Odinsday Oracle” (aka I like alliteration)

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Energy Path Tarot for 8/28 – 9/4

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Major arcana energy is right in the middle of it.

You know that moon energy that has been lingering the past few weeks? The same message is here but in a more direct, confrontational way. Major arcana cards tend to be more energetic, urgent, profound, far reaching…you name it.

The literal full moon is in two days. I chalk that up to a good old fashioned Jungian sychronicity – a meaningful coincidence. The Moon card has shifted to the Death card, but the energy of change remains.

As we all know from watching the Simpsons, the death card isn’t literal death…it is a big change. It’s not ‘you are going to get hit by a bus’ death, it is the death of an old view, action, persona…the “old” you that makes way for a new you. This is the ‘natural cycle’ energy from the past few week’s Moon card and the ‘only the empty cup can be filled’ energy we talked about last week but with the volume turned up to 11.

The cup is brimming, and is soon to turn over. The moon is nearly full, it’s time for tides to turn. This week feels like a tipping point of some sort.

Maybe it is the outrageously loud pavement cutting and water line work that is going on in front of my house right now, but I have a twitchy, gut churning ‘bad feeling about this’ worthy of Princess Leia. Something is up somewhere, but I don’t know what and I don’t know when. All I can do is sit here and take my own advice.

Fading energy: Queen of Pentacles, reversed. The Queen of Pentacles in any orientation is about nurturing. Often it is about nurturing yourself to preserve your capacity to help and nurture others. The reversal makes it feel like a reminder to let others nurture you. We all need a little care. If you don’t even have the reserves to care for yourself, allow others to help. Just ask nicely. It’s that simple. The fading energy here may be ours. It doesn’t feel like a go-getter, entrepreneurial kind of week. Astrology might blame it on the Mercury in the microwave phenomenon – it feels like a bigger pattern, more of a tectonic shift than a zippy little optical illusion.

Current Energy: Death. The funky mojo energy reminds me of the beginning of covid to be honest. Maybe we are finally shifting out of that phase of human history. It doesn’t feel quite like impending doom, but a sea change of some sort. Sea change is a good way to put it…it connects with the moon cycle, ebb and flow imagery that has been so prominent lately. The phrase “Brave New World” comes to mind, although it doesn’t feel like an Aldus Huxley reference at all. The unknown can be gut-twistingly frightening. Maybe that is the bell ringing resonant energy that is going on here. We are finally moving out of that storm, cleaned up a little of the mess and are being forced to face facts. Everything has changed and will never be the same again.

I’m going to go put “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Beyond Thunderdome)” on loop. Maybe we are looking at the unknown beyond Thunderdome so to speak. Ah – there it is – “I wonder when we are ever gonna change, change
Living under the fear, ’til nothing else remains.” Is this going to be fear or freedom for us? I suspect it will be whichever we choose.

Growing energy: Five of Pentacles

It’s interesting that the Pentacles are the only minor arcana cards showing this week. It’s right back to that hunker down and be practical vibe from 2020. Maybe this really is the unknown other side. Again, the sense of this card as fearful or freeing is again up to us to our choice.

The card also brings to mind a TikTok I saw yesterday. I forget the creator, it was something survival. It was a very sped up video of someone who dug a hole and built a survival shelter out of branches and dry grass & mud daub. They even dug out a fireplace (about the size of a small cooler) complete with chimney.

I looked like a totally warm, dry Hobbit hole when it was done.

The Five of Pentacles is about seeking shelter in a storm.

You can focus on the storm or you can focus on the sanctuary that is available for you to take. Again, our choice.

I ‘hear’ “wrap your wisdom around you like a cloak.” Sheltering through a storm means gathering in, yin, not pushing, not being ostentatious. But it also means being happy that shelter exists to take.

Sometimes humble but sturdy and reliable is a wonderful thing. Look for those kinds of things and take whatever shelter you need this week.

Thank you for reading! Your support through likes, follows, social media shares, and comments is always appreciated! Nothing on this blog is paywalled anymore, and none of my social media is monetized so YOUR Tarot message always comes first. Your support through private readings, memberships, and virtual coffee tips are what fuels it all.

Next up – Wednesday “Odinsday Oracle” – not because I’m not particularly Norse pagan but I am, however, fond of alliteration and Neil Gaimon novels.

See you at the next sip!

Chaos Upside Down

What is chaos turned on its head? Order, organization, and focus maybe?

Life is unpredictable enough. There is enough change without adding impulse to the mix. The energy today isn’t supporting impulse.

More on the members blog…

The Week Ahead: More than meets the eye

The Tarot week ahead in the time it takes to sip from your coffee

My, my. Aren’t we chatty again today.

Hello and welcome to the Sage Words Tarot blog and Sage’s Short Sip Tarot podcast. I’m glad you are here.

On Mondays, my hope is to do a Pathway Tarot reading for everyone, on all the platforms where you can find Sage Words Tarot. As always, it isn’t a hard core prediction. No Tarot or psychic reading ever is. As I see it this functions a lot like a weather forecast. It isn’t 100% definite most of the time (unless you hear the word “warning” which means it is already happening, so you should do something about it.) If you take a squinty-eyed look at what is probable, then you can be ready for the possibilities and opportunities that cross your path. It’s our mantra here: Tarot doesn’t tell you what is going to happen in life, it helps you figure out what to do when life happens.

​The energy this week is quite a bit like last week. Neil DeGrasse Tyson once said that “The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.” That is true of hard science, social sciences, and folk art like Tarot. The universe is under no obligation to make one iota of sense and by the same token, it is under no obligation to move or change according to our hopes, aspirations, expectations or schedules.

If a regularly scheduled Tarot broadcast seems repetitive, it isn’t necessarily because the person doing the reading isn’t skilled or that the whole technique isn’t valid. The collective energies are what they are and under no obligation to keep us entertained.

We’ve had this “yeah it’s an annoying pain in the backside but you got this” energy around for a few weeks now. But compare that to 2020 when it was all mental images of hurricanes and a sense of Holy Duck stay focused on the practical problems at hand and batten down the hatches. The feel is totally different. This is feet up sipping coffee time by comparison.

Sometimes the energy changes within a matter of hours. Sometimes things shift over weeks or months. It varies from time to time – and certainly from person to person.

The energy seems fairly steady and low-key at the moment. I personally, will take that. I could use a little steady for a little while. So good news for me, but frustrating news for anyone who is feeling stuck, frustrated or impatient. Like I’ve said before relative to the Hanged Man card…one man’s stuck in the mud is another man’s day at the spa. It’s up to you to decide if the energy reads we get here are good or bad news for you personally.

One of the clue for me that we are still in a bit of the same groove is how chatty the cards are.

By chatty, I mean that the reading is more clairaudient than usual.

Clairvoyant means “clear sight” and refers to intuitive impressions that come in the form of mental images. I use the verb “see” to refer to those.

Clairaudient is that same intuition, just in the form of something sound-related like words or music. When those come along I use the word “hear.” Very seldom are the sounds actual sounds, although right now I’m getting the screeching tires and breaking glass sound effect from a don’t text and drive public service announcement just as an example of what that would be like.

Try putting THAT into words for a blog and podcast.

But back to chatty.

I’ve been getting more than the usual amount of word-driven intuition rather than mental image intuition the past couple of weeks as we begin the new pattern of things under the new name.

The change from TaoCraft Tarot to Sage Words Tarot is mostly finished, by the way.

When I do a private email Tarot reading, the first thing we’ll do is take a look at the general pattern of the cards on the table. This week is starting off with a bang and every single card in the layout is from the major arcana portion of the Tarot deck. I genuinely don’t see that often. I don’t know the math of it. Only 22 of the 78 Tarot cards are major arcana, but there is still some crazy big number of possible combinations in a three card reading….what is it? 78+77+76 to the power of three or some ridiculous thing? I don’t know the precise science-answer, but there are a LOT of possible combinations and only a portion of them include all major arcana cards. So the fact that this layout beat the odds and gave us all majors deserves attention and consideration.

Thinking about this pattern gives sort of a blurry double image, like opening your eyes under water. I am reminded of that old adage about being a duck in an emergency…calm on the surface but furiously paddling underneath.

All major arcana cards are a high energy, rapid change situation. That is in direct opposition to the sedate, steady feeling of the energy.

So how do we reconcile the seeming opposites?

I think the weird juxtaposition is a hint at timing. In the big picture and the overall pattern of things the theme of sedate and steady rules the week, but there may be small or short-lived little “KER-POWs” of energy.

There is an example of both clairvoyance and clairaudience at work. I ‘hear’ or ‘get’ the word KA-POW plus I also get a mental image of it as a cartoon or comic book image of the word, like during the fight scenes in the 1960s Batman TV show that in itself was a parody of even older comic books.

I also see a pebble thrown into a pond…a little splash in a big quiet surface.

I don’t think there is anything much under the surface. We might have to do a little ker-pow of duck paddling at some point this week, but it isn’t a major upset, just a little burst of speed to scoot out of the way of a minor disturbance.

At least on the outside. Here I get the impression that most of the major arcana action is going to be internal, in the spiritual or psychological realm of things, which would certainly fit the symbolism of the duck who seems to be gliding calmly on top but paddling like crazy with its feet under the smooth glassy surface of the water.

The first major arcana card we see is the Justice card. With that I hear “Be fair, including with yourself.” “You are part of the mix and deserve equal fairness with everyone.” This card is in the diminishing energies position within this particular layout, at which point I hear “Let It Go”…. in the form of the song from that Disney movie.

Which in turn reminds us to keep it light, keep your sense of humor, and don’t turn this week’s splash into more of a tidal wave than it really is.

In the current energy position we have the Strength card. This card feels like pure validation and reassurance. You got this. I get the mental image of a weight room or a gym. This is practice. This is a normal workout for your resilience and persistence. Be strong. Don’t whine. Do the do and you can get back to your calm and steady energies shortly.

The growing energy position belongs to the Fool. I see underlines…so this card is reinforcing the idea of lightness and humor. Keeping your sense of humor about things seems important this week.

The Fool card is also symbolic of new beginnings. Our chatty cards are giving me the “break on through to the other side” lyric from some old song from the Doors. Don’t ask me which one. I’m not THAT old. If it grabs your attention as something for you personally, then by all means google it or stream the song or something.

​For our purposes, I think the “other side” is the other side of whatever stress or burst of energy this week brings. Be it next week, next month or next year, this feels like a reassurance that something good is available to us if we put a little effort into it.

It’s weird, but I see grass, and colored eggs on grass on the other side of clear plastic kitchen wrap. Good thing are waiting for us if we are fair to everyone and ourselves, stay strong and make the little effort of breaking on through to the greener grass on the other side of this week.

So stay calm but keep paddling my duckie friends!

Daily Sip members on ko-fi get Tarot every weekday (plus a standing shop discount) Tarot Table members get that plus a personal Sage’s Sip Tarot reading by email on request one per calendar month that they are an active member. People who follow the free blog on SageWordsTaot.com get exclusive weekend content, and the socials are whatever whenever although Instagram is the only one where I actually interact with the comments.

And that is the online week in a nutshell.

Or in a Tarot reading in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. See you at the next sip!