Tag: mental

Inescapable Unity (both edges apply)

No matter how thin you cut a coin, it still has two sides.

Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot contemplation for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee.

Today the emphasis is on short. As in a short week. I don’t want to do half-assed readings for you. I want to do the best Tarot reading I can for you be it here on the blog and podcast or be it in a private individual session. Usually I straight up take a couple of weeks off around this time of year. This year, I thought I could fit a little Tarot work in and around other things, but it isn’t quite working out that way. Like my new favorite internet meme says, I don’t have ducks, I don’t have rows, I have squirrels and they are hosting a rave. Long story short, E-mail Tarot readings are open, but the blog, podcast and social media will be on a short hiatus from now until June 27, 2022 and again over the weekend of July 4. After that it is right back to the usual squirrel rave playlist.

With that announcement out of my system, let’s get to today’s card, the two of swords.

Swords are associated with the mind, intellect and the element of air. They are a symbol of power and authority, society and culture too. Swords were the weapons of war for a broad swath of human history. If we take a more contemporary, relational point of view of the suit of swords they can symbolize our relationship with authority, and with the bigger definitions of society; your nationality, your ethnicity, your religion, your political affiliation. Sometimes swords carry a thread of Hierophant or Pope type energy. Social conventions are a minor background energy today.

More often than not, Tarot is intensely personal. It isn’t often that a spirit or energy message connects to society at large. Today’s card, however, is reminding us that we are never not connected to it. We are never not connected to anything. We are never not connected to everything.

The two aspects of this card are interesting. Two cards vary in theme from suit to suit. Two of pentacles is the essence of balance and has a similar vibe to Temperance in the major arcana. Two of cups is about committed one to one emotion, marriage and long term relationships. Two of wands is about watching, hope and preparation within an individual. The two of swords speaks to mental state, things like indecision, being of two minds about something, or somehow in an unwinnable situation with equal good and bad consequences…something that cuts like a double edged sword as the saying goes

In her book Magical Tarot, Mystical Tao, Diane Morgan interprets the two of swords as mystical unity.

However sharp or dull the edges of a sword may be, they are still a part of the same sword. Even if you split a sword down the middle, you get more edges, each connected to its mate.

We are three dimensional beings. There is no one side to anything. As strongly as the two of pentacles points a dynamic balancing dualities, the two of swords points to an inescapable unity. No matter how thin you slice a coin it always has two sides. You can’t deny the existence of the sword’s other edge, the coin’s other side – or your many sides either. Sometimes you just have to choose which edge you use, which side of the coin to show, and which facet of you to that you use to interface with the rest of culture or or your larger social groups. Whatever side you choose to show, the other sides of you, even the sides you may not like so much, still exist.

It is a dangerous thing to ignore one side of sword when all the edges apply.

One of those edges is feeling like it is useless to choose or stop caring about important decisions. Remember…whatever sad, angry, terrifying thing makes you want to give up, you are equally connected to happy, kind, supportive, comfortable things. Out there, somewhere in the universe, in there somewhere on a bone deep molecular level, there is a connection to love and support. You are star stuff, and many people love stars.

The edges may cut, but the center connects.

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See you in a few days at the next sip.

Today’s Tarot: The Watcher

Apologies for the delay in posting, because, well, 2020.

On to the Three of Wands. Yes, again. Different deck, different day, same card. Cool thing happened; about an hour after I filmed the card draw above, I did a one card reading for an individual with a different deck (Steampunk, their favorite) and wouldn’t you know it – Three of Wands. This card is really trying to get our attention.

It also gives us a little insight into how Tarot can be such a broadly useful tool for something as subtle, complex and personal as spiritual guidance or personal growth. The math is pretty much un-do-able, but let’s just look at these one card daily meditation type of readings. You have one card position, with one position meaning, raised to the power of 78 possible cards, raised to the power of all the card keywords and meanings that have attached to each card over the years. Now, multiply all of that by multiple cards, various layout position meanings, different intuitive messages, different intents or flavors of each card’s message…try knitting all of that together into a coherent message that someone can actually understand and put to practical use. Now you know why we charge the rates that we do. The more cards in a reading, the more complex it becomes, and the more effort it takes to make sense of it all for a client.

The Three of Wands is often associated with things like watchfulness, active waiting, observation, proper timing, or vigilance.

Recently, the energy seemed to flow toward the watching for the right timing, watching for events to happen that would in turn prompt you to action.

Today, the energy is more toward the vigilance end of things. The watchfulness isn’t times to a particular action. It isn’t about timing your action just right. It has a more general sense. This is tied to the idea of healthy boundary setting that has been front of mind of late as well. Now that we know where the boundaries ARE, the Three of Wands is asking you to maintain them, patrol them, defend them. The words “perifory” and “vigilance” step forward. Now that we know, based on logic and historical fact, that more turbulent times are likely on the horizon, be politically or pandemic related, the card is further reminding us to guard our energy and mental health. It is always better to over-prepare than to under-react in such things, be it literal storms, public health, or your energetic and emotional well being.

Don’t forget to check out the special offers page for details about the anniversary free Tarot giveaway. Distance Tarot NO APPOINTMENT NEEDED always available to order on the home page.