meditation – Page 4 – Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot

Today’s Tarot: Big Little Things

In the taijitu (the yin yang symbol) each half contains a dot of the opposite color. The idea is that anything in the extreme can become its opposite. There are different ways of reading the I Ching, the book of changes. Throwing three coins is the method I know best and have used the most. I’ll spare you all the details, but you use three coins to determine if a given “line” is yine or yang. Six throws, gives you six lines, and that in turn tells you which part of the book to read for your guidance. Using coins, heads mean yang and tails mean yin. If you get two of three coins showing one way or the other, that tells you the definition of the ‘line’ as either yin or yang. If you get all three coins the same it is considered a “changing line” which means it is SO yin or SO yang that it can easily tip over into being its opposite (or is in the process of doing so)

The Ten of Coins is a liminal symbol like a transition line. Coins (or Pentacles, depending on the deck you use) have to do with the physical realm, wealth, career, etc. 10 is the largest of the number cards before you move into the esoteric, idea-driven court cards. 10, in this case, is something coming to fruition or completion. It is the uber-pentacle of all the number cards. Given all of that, you might expect to see material successes represented, the Tarot equivalent of a mansion and a yacht.

Not so.

The Ten of Pentacles is the happy family card. It shows simple contentment, in the RWS tradition usually mom, dad, their 2.2 kids, white picket fence, grampa and the dog. Granted, that sounds like a 1950s surburban ideal gone wild, but that’s kind of the point. The pinnacle of material success isn’t material at all. The pinnacle of material success is the people you love and simple contentment with the cycles and flows of life. Life, love and simple mindful pleasures are, after all, the greatest of treasures. All those little things are really kind of big.

More Kitten Whiskers

Time for some Friday fangirling over a few favorites.

Get yourself an uncontrollable jaunt – you’ll be glad you did. Actually, get yourself to yourself to Spotify, iTunes, google play or Stitcher and follow Ninth World Journal written, directed, and produced by David S. Dear who also voices Januae. Based on the role playing game Numenera and set in the far future, Januae invents a teleporter which, for reasons, causes him to randomly & spontaneously teleport or “jaunt” and sci fi adventures ensue. I won’t spoil it, but if you like sci fi or fantasy an eentsy bit, please give it a listen. I’m more of a reader than a listener, but I’m transfixed. If an audio drama holds my gnat sized attention that is saying something. I am eternally honored to have been invited by David to be a co-host on his previous podcast Menage A Tarot, which was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done (it’s still available on TuneIn if you want to give it a listen) I can tell you first hand that David is one of the wisest, kindest people you’d ever want to meet plus has an enchanting fm radio voice that you could listen to for hours. That, plus the perfect length of the Ninth World Journal episodes and David’s sense of humor make it one of the most binge-able podcasts around. Please support Ninth World Journal on Patreon and ko-fi.
Speaking of wisdom and podcasts! If non-fiction is more to your taste, the please visit CoachJoseJohnson.com, home of you guessed it….Coach Jose Johnson, mindfulness coach, martial arts master and musician (Side Streets of Dreams is one of my all time favorite songs) I’ve had the privilege of taking clinics taught by him, and chatting with him as friend and colleague in the mindfulness & spirituality field. I know and respect his work. My husband studied with both he and Justin so of course if you have any interest in martial arts whatsoever, please give The Kung Fu Equation podcast a listen. Lately he has been posting I Ching (the “Book of Changes”) inspired thoughts on instagram. While I don’t use I Ching in my professional work, I’ve used it personally almost as long as I’ve worked with Tarot…since the 90s. He is absolutely spot on. Take it from someone with “Tao” in their website name…listen to him about the I Ching and mindfulness. His book Mindfulness Secrets is available now.
From audio art, to nonfiction and music … now back to art. Ry Summers is one of the most multi-talented artists I’ve ever cyber-met. I first met him on the poetry site “We Drink Because We Are Poets.” His writing is gritty, raw, real, powerful and alive. For his poetry, I recommend an older work of his written under the pen name Sahm Atain King, Laria Onyx. At the same time, he is a brilliant artist and photographer. Check out his work (including my favorite of his paintings that he’s posted so far, “Mephistopheles”) on www.instagram.com/ry_summers. Rumor has it that he has a new project in the works. Please visit his instagram profile to learn how to support his work.

Today’s Tarot: Just Because You Can

The Two of Swords is an interesting card. I’ve seen a wide variety of interpretations for it, all of which ring true at one time or another. The classic interpretation is to be of two minds about something, or to have difficulty choosing between two nearly identical options. Diane Morgan broadens that duality beyond the mundane to include the spirit realm. Here, the two of swords is more about identifying and connecting to subtly different realms of being rather than subtly different physical realm choices. Ted Andrews uses elements of both. He connects the physical and spiritual, but points out the choices we make as we integrate the spiritual into daily living. He puts it in terms of right use of power.

As I drew the card, I got a strong mental impression of the Colossus of Rhodes, the ancient wonder, a statue so large that is believed to have stood with a foot on either side of the entrance to the port at Rhodes in ancient Greece. Today, Brea Fisher spook of “a foot in two worlds” in her ever lovely and wise @quanyingongfu feed on Instagram. The interplay between the physical world and the spiritual world is asking for our attention.

We each live with a foot in both worlds You experience the solid, physical realm all of the time, but also have continuous access to the ethereal realm of thoughts, emotions, imagination and intuition.

The two of swords is reminding us to make wise choices about which foot we use and how. My attention is particularly drawn to the esoteric energy side of this and the old adage “Just because you can doesn’t mean that you should.”

Those who work with energy professionally bear the greatest responsibility in that respect. I don’t feel pushed to say that because I’ve seen anyone being irresponsible. “Psychic” scams have been around forever. Today, I feel pulled to mention this out of deep respect for everyone out here doing it right.

Today the Two of Swords is a bow of respect for those who act out of compassion. Yes, we advertise and post and tell everyone what we do so those who need us can find us. We ask for fair payment or donation in exchange for our expertise and skilled services, but we do so out of compassion for ourselves and our families. We communicate not out of ego but to build trust. Beware the shifting and shady. The trustworthy write the rules, expectations and boundaries for all to see.

Also a bow of respect to those who speak their truth but have the strength to speak their truth but then let go. Ego is needy in this line of work. A wise person can let others about their life and make all the mistakes they need to find wisdom for themselves.

There are many excellent teachers out there and I am so grateful to have found the words of so many of them: Ted Andrews, Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan, Christopher Penczak, Scott Cunningham, Brea Fisher, Nick Gracenin, Jose Johnson and many more.

We walk through life with a foot in two worlds. Sometimes physical circumstances carry the greater weight and demands our attention, as it has with the pandemic. But to keep moving forward, to keep living, the spiritual foot must move forward and have its day before the physical realm demands its due again.

My hunch is we are in a brief liminal time when things are shifting. The moment is twilight quiet, the eye of the hurricane. Personal power and inner spirituality must be used rightly. This isn’t the time for bluster and show, not a time for group-think, blind positivism or outward dogma. We’ve survived for the moment, so now is the time to turn quietly inward give our hearts and souls their turn even as we prepare to return our attention to the practical in times to come.

PeaceTarot: Introduction to the Second Edition

The First Edition of PeaceTarot is available both on amazon.com for kindle and in the the TaoCraft Tarot Shop on Etsy.

In 2012 the mass shooting of children in a Newtown, Connecticut school shook the souls of the nation’s parents. For those of us who had young children it was an emotionally charged and terrifying event, even if we were geographically far removed from Newtown. It was followed over the next several years by the Boston Marathon bombing, the Mother Emanuel shooting, Orlando, Las Vegas, Stoneman Douglas High School and our hometown in 2018 with the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh. The litany of violence and political inaction continues here in the United States. We can never forget that war and violence have been with the human race across the globe throughout history.

After many years of doing Tarot readings, I knew first hand the comfort the card’s ideas and symbolism could bring. I’ve seen a reading ease the tension in a person’s face and body language time and time and time again. The comfort I’d personally taken in the cards naturally found its way into “Tarotbytes,” my blog on the Modern Oracle Tarot website and again in this self published ebook.

Now here we are in 2020 experiencing a deadly global pandemic and the worst economic depression in nearly one hundred years. I had intended to use the great stay-at-home lockdown quarantine of 2020 to do other writing and other things. Catching up on some sleep was high on the list.

Yet, as is often the case, the cards have other ideas. Tarot has a role to play again.

It wasn’t clear at first, but the readings since late February (both for individual clients and generally for the blog and social media) have been overwhelmingly focused on the pandemic. You don’t have to be intuitively sensitive for the feelings of these times to hit you like a tidal wave. Then and now, 2012 and 2020, the point of Tarot work is to help us to honor our true feelings. The process of doing a reading can help clear stress and find a path forward that may have otherwise been hidden behind turbulent times and equally turbulent emotions. One thing is clear. It’s time to bring PeaceTarot out of mothballs and let Tarot work its magic on our current challenges.

All of the original PeaceTarot material still exists in the second edition with two new features. PeaceTarot still begins by teaching you to do one card daily meditation style readings for yourself. It still gives the peace-minded card meanings from the 2010 – 2012 era. For each card, I’ve added the pandemic focused interpretations that have stepped forward in the early months of 2020. Next, the internet allows me to give you a brand new resource for choosing a daily card when you don’t have a Tarot deck on hand. The TaoCraft Tarot YouTube channel has a growing number of videos that you can use to see a card being randomly drawn. You can then reference the reading for that card in the video description or coordinate it with the ones here in PeaceTarot as you build your daily Tarot meditation practice.

The one thing that never changes is that everything always changes.Despite those changes, peace of mind and a quiet Tarot moment are ideas that never go away. Through it all, I wish you health, happiness and many moments of peace.

Ronda Snow

Pittsburgh, 2020

Vision 2020

We all saw it coming.

We are going to be up to our eyeballs in vision references this year. Including this reminder to glimpse at the special offers page. Please subscribe to the blog with the box you can see to the right on laptop or down below on mobile. After all you want a good view of all the special offers and new content, don’t you?

All kidding aside, the idea of a “vision statement” has caught my attention. A new client recently asked if I had a web page or anything that talked about my philosophy about Tarot. I hadn’t given it much thought recently. We have already been there and done that in the old Tarotbytes blog. In the process of re-branding from Modern Oracle to TaoCraft Tarot, I’ve put loads of nuts-and-bolts information under the “about” tab on the website: Bio, prices, example readings, how to schedule, you name it. So far it’s all business and not so much philosophy.

Now it’s time to share my vision with you again. It has evolved and grown just like I have. Look for a new series of posts under the category “Portfolio.”

Artists put together portfolios when they interview for a job to show their skills and artistic vision to a potential employer. Tarot readers have a lot in common with artists. I am putting together a portfolio to share my vision of Tarot with you in the hopes you will hire me to do readings for you. It is just that simple. It is just that clear. When you are working with any kind of vision, it is always better to stay focused.

Keep a weather eye on the horizon, there is lots more to come including the usual 12 Second Tarot (almost) daily meditations, and the “You Choose” interactive Tarot reading posts here on the blog page and on the assorted social media accounts.

Updated “about” page

My readings won’t tell you what is going to happen in life. They help you figure out what to do when life happens.

All of my readings have the same basic structure. Distance and in-person sessions give the same identical information. The only difference is convenience (email does not require an appointment) and the ability to ask questions in real time rather than emails back and forth.

All readings have these same basic parts.

Photo (or drawing) of your unique card layout
General pattern: any messages from the overall layout
Card-by-card discussion: meaning, layout position meaning, type of message from that card (advice, caution, validation, etc)
Affirmation based on your cards
Sigil elements: any shapes or sketches that intuition gives, if any. You may use these as elements to create a sigil for yourself if you like.
Psychic Summary: this allows for any impressions that come from intuition whether it is related to the cards or not. Often this includes helpful crystal, color, and aromatherapy suggestions.

Allow 45-60 minutes for an in-person session. All prices are flat rate, not per minute so you know your full cost up front. Appointment required for in-person and Party Tarot.

Distance readings are my specialty. As a writer, a keyboard is a direct-dial hotline into the best of my thinking and intuition. Since I can do this kind of reading almost anywhere, I do them all of the time, usually filling orders within hours, no appointment needed. I can type out a reading as easily as speaking it out loud in person, and give exactly the same information in both.

The small print: All the usual policies and disclaimers apply to all readings, Reiki sessions and meditation tutorials. The short version is that everything here is for entertainment, personal enrichment or spiritual practices, and does not ever diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any mental or physical illness. Nothing here can take the place of professional medical care. I don’t accept medical or pregnancy questions because Tarot just doesn’t work for that kind of thing. When you contact me, that indicates that you agree to the policies and use these services at your own risk; no liability of any sort is accepted.

12 Second Tarot: Six of Wands (27 Nov 29)

The only peace the holidays require you to keep is within yourself.

Whether you speak your truth or walk away, protect your compassion from the ravages of other people’s stress and zealotry.

ElfCon 2020

Headed toward prolly one of the chillest holiday seasons in years. I blame it on my daughter growing up and getting all adult and stuff. Making some mala for the shop and am always ready to do distance readings. Want to take a look ahead to 2020? Relax, I have you covered with the “Seasons of the Year” layout which returns today. Forget putting another appointment on a crowded calendar…indulge in a little inexpensive self care no appintment needed with distance readings HERE or (here is a little gift idea for you) order handcrafted mala meditation beads HERE

The Niggles: Bookends

I am head over heels for the new name and look.

I’ve had a good time with the one year anniversary. Halloween was the perfect day for the re-branding and re-launch last year. Thank you all so much. It means a lot that you stuck with me through the transition and I am grateful for all the new friends made along the way.

It just doesn’t feel quite complete without a matching bookend of a post about the TaoCraft name.

It is a sweet spot, philosophically, authentic and real. To my mind it feels like equal parts Alan Watts, Ted Andrews and Carl Sagan. It has been a joy to raise the tricolor freak flag of Taoism, Energy & Magick, and being openly secular. Hmm. That is an interesting mental exercise I’d not thought of until just now. If you were to make a flag to symbolize your true self, what would it look like? I’ll have to think about it. I’m thinking a white field with a taijitu, a pentacle and an atom. Hit me up on Instagram or Twitter – what would your own personal flag look like?

What is in a name after a year of living with it? Labels are still as meaningless or as empowering as we wish them to be. After this re-branding exercise, I think George R.R. Martin got it exactly right in Game of Thrones when Tyrion told Jon “Never forget what you are, the world will not. Wear it like armor and it can never be used to hurt you.” I don’t regret taking a run at being all modern, trying to educate the world about the realities of predictions, putting energy into a professional, sanitized presentation. It was camouflage to protect my dragon baby. Now that she is grown and fierce and wonderful and breathing fire on her own, it was time to burn that whole house down.

Pippin Miller, of https://hyggelightwork.com/ did an oracle card reading for me summer 2018 when I was having a mid life empty nest only child goes to college crisis. I can’t remember exactly what she said, but a storm of broken glass shards crystallized into place. I don’t remember her exact words (sorry Pip) but the idea of it was crystal clear in my mind, and I could hear AJR’s “Burn the Whole House Down” earworming in my deep intuition. I’d been tinkering with the idea of “TaoCraft” as a concept and a name for years. Her reading was the starter’s gun at the beginning of a sprint. It was time.

So no more sanitized, blue, modern, suburban mom face.

Now it is all owls, black and gold, intuition, magick, wisdom, Reiki, meditation, and unabashedly secular.

The benefits for me have been many. The benefits for you are one simple thing: Better-than-ever Tarot readings. Authentic and honest, I can do better, more confident work for you from this comfortable place.

To that end, I’ve added a few things. Click here to see the map of my in-home individual reading and party service area. If you live outside of the area, no worries. I’ve found some quiet public places where we can meet. I’ve meet people there lots of times and never had a problem.

If your party is outside of the service area…don’t hesitate to contact me anyway. I take parties outside of the service area on a case by case basis depending on location and my schedule. I have added a travel fee for anything too outrageous.

Distance readings are still my specialty. A computer keyboard is a direct hotline bat signal right to my intuition, so you get as good of a reading as you would in person. Since I can work from my favorite chair, wearing fuzzy bunny slippers and sipping coffee, it might even be a little bit better. It helps when I can sit and think a minute without the silence that makes some people feel little awkward in a live reading.

Also there is a shiny new ebooklet that tells you all about a reading. A reading with me will only meet or exceed your expectations after reading it because you will know exactly what to expect. Click here for your free copy: TaoCraft Portfolio free download

I’m working on an expanded version with essays about Romance relationships, predicting the future and all sorts of other behind the scenes stuff. That will be coming to the Etsy shop soon, along with other titles hopefully.

One year, and we are just getting started.

Welcome to TaoCraft Tarot.

Thank you MindBody Radio!

Many thanks to MindBody radio!

Even though I was coming down with a bit of a cold and not in best voice, I really appreciate the opportunity to tell a little bit of the Modern Oracle / TaoCraft Tarot story, especially during this one year anniversary month for the new TaoCraft Tarot name. You can listen to the show with the link below.

https://mindbodyradio.com/daily-show/episode/Ronda-Snow