Sage Sips is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee
May is both National Meditation Month and Mental Health Awareness Month.
Tarot can play a part in both. This month, I’m returning to where it all began with daily meditation style Tarot readings on the Sage Sips main blog, the Substack and the socials. Your private readings, memberships and virtual coffees all support these free collective Tarot readings.
EIGHT OF PENTACLES: Meditation meets you where you live. It can be found in almost any simple, repetitive task. The mindless can be a portal to the mindful.
I’ve quoted Alan Watts so many times before, but it applies here again – “Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.“
True to Tarot, even the earthy, ground oh-so-practical Pentacle cards have a spiritual side. Pentacle spirituality is particularly akin to Zen and Taoist spirituality.
Simple productivity can feed your soul as much as a job feeds your bank account and in turn your stomach. That isn’t to say that your job has to be ultra spiritual. Any work can be of service and finding a job that you love is a treasure beyond money.
Feeling and being productive improves mood: Action eases anxiety, literally.
Easy, repetitive, ‘mindless’ activity is relaxing. No wonder things like knitting, crochet, jogging, hiking, gardening, sports of all sorts are all popular hobbies. Anything that occupies your hands and body while bringing your mind to the moment at hand is meditation. In these million different ways, meditation meets you right where you live if you allow it to be there. Meditation meets you where you live and brings a little mental health help right along with it.
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deck: Alleyman’s Tarot by Seven Dane Asmund, used with permission Publishing Goblin LLC
Today, two points jump to mind about the Lenormand Tarot deck as a whole rather than the Bear card specifically.
It is interesting that Lenormand has several cards with (non-human) animals as the whole focus and symbolism: bear, snake, birds or owls, fox, stork, mouse and fish. Marseilles / Visconti / RWS format decks have animals sprinkled through the deck but never as the primary or sole focus of a card. The closest is the Strength card which prominently features a lion, but it is more about the human’s interaction with the lion and the symbolism about strength and leadership that is associated with lions rather than the animal’s actual characteristics or behavior. Other than that, we mostly see the knight’s horses, a few dogs, an ox, a fish in a cup and a lobster taking a moonlight stroll on a beach.
There are two full decks that share a similar energy to Lenormand’s animal cards: the Medicine Cards oracle deck by David Carson and Jamie Sams and Animal Wise Tarot by Ted Andrews. I’m sentimentally attached to both of these decks because Medicine Cards was my first deck and entry point to reading any cards, Tarot or otherwise. I have always had great respect for Ted Andrews and his writings have been utterly influential and invaluable to me. I was so fortunate to meet him at one of his Animal Speak workshops around the time that Animal Wise Tarot was first published. There is a significant intuitive connection from between these decks and the Lenormand, more than typical RWS decks seem to have. This is the first I’ve noticed that energy-similarity since this is the first animal-symbol Lenormand card we’ve drawn.
The Bear card is about that well-known “mama bear” protectiveness, and begs the question of who protects you? Who do you need to protect? Where do you need to protect yourself better? Where are you too guarded?
The other thing that captures my attention is the 10 of clubs on the Bear card.
All 36 of the Lenormand cards have a playing card on them in addition to their primary symbol. Not all of the playing cards can be represented in the smaller Lenormand deck. Christopher Butler’s guidebook that came with this Healing Light Lenormand deck is oddly silent about the playing card references. I’m looking for more information about that part of the Lenormand cards and will update you later in the series.
In my book Peace Tarot, I give you an easy technique for using regular playing cards to find your Tarot daily meditation card meaning if you don’t have a Tarot deck to use. There is a link where you can buy a copy of Peace Tarot above the video if you are interested in learning more about DIY daily meditation style Tarot, that works even if you don’t own a Tarot deck. Using that method, the 10 of clubs connects with the 10 of wands, which is a different energy than the bear. The bear to my mind today is connecting with a major arcana energy much more akin to the Emperor card is also connected with strength and protectiveness. It is difficult to access that kind of major arcana vibe with the playing deck (we talk about that in Peace Tarot, too)
If you live in the South Hills area of Pittsburgh PA, USA keep an eye on your local library websites. I’ll be presenting a Tarot for relaxation workshop based on the information in Peace Tarot at a few locations this Fall. It’s a very inexpensive .pdf in the Sage Words Tarot Shop, I hope you’ll consider giving it a read.
In honor of 10 years of Peace Tarot and how meaningful and useful a daily meditation Tarot practice has been for me over 30 years of card reading, I’ve decided to return to daily meditation Tarot readings for the collective energy in the blog through New Year 2024 which will mark the one year anniversary of TaoCraft Tarot relaunching as Sage Words Tarot. I’ll decide then what, if anything is next. After all the upheaval in the world since the pandemic (politically since 2016 here in the U.S.) a return to some steadiness and simplicity is probably a pretty good idea.
Instagram and Threads is still the best social media to catch me if you want to actually interact. I’m Sage Words Tarot on all the socials (except Twitter – X . I quit that mess months ago) I hope you’ll follow along here, on the socials, on ko-fi or the Substack weekly newsletter. The newsletter happens on Thursdays. Next Wendsday “Learn With Me” will be back with a review of the Healing Light Lenormand deck as a whole thing that I bought – on sale from Llwellyn Publishing. Thanks for reading! See you at the next sip!
TaoCraft weekend Tarot Turnovers is an intuition building exercise that turns our usual Tarot readings upside down. I sip the coffee while you interpret the card. Learn Tarot with TaoCraft!
Today we are turning our usual Tarot posts upside down. I sip the coffee and you interpret the card. It’s not that I’m lazy. Well, actually, I kinda am. But that’s not the point. Reading Tarot is like any skill, it takes practice. It takes some time and slowly working it through for yourself. That’s what these Tarot Turnovers are intended to do. It gives you a chance to flex your intuitive muscles in a no-big-deal, safe, low key way. It’s hard to learn to read cards when you are upset or in the middle of a problem or need guidance for whatever reason.
That’s where a daily one card meditation practice like we do here on weekday or as they are described in my e-book PeaceTarot. The ebook teaches you how to do daily practice card readings plus provides peacefulness themed interpretations for all 78 RWS style Tarot cards. If you practice on days when you are calm and everything is normal, it is easy and natural to reach for your cards on the days when things are far from calm and normal.
Speaking of far from normal, prompted by world events, all proceeds from TaoCraft Tarot ko-fi shop sales of my ebook PeaceTarotwill be donated to Doctors Without Borders, USA until the end of 2022. I’ve already donated myself, but with your help we can do more. Doctors Without Borders has a four star rating on charity navigator.
Back to the card. I drew a card from a random cut after shuffling three times. I’ll list a variety of possible interpretations for the card inspired by old blog posts and favorite references plus my card interpretation from PeaceTarot. Can you spot it in the list?
Take a deep breath. Read through the list of meanings below the card and see which one rings most true for you? Which one feels most right to you? Which one applies best to your individual context and situation? Does something else entirely spring to mind? If so – go with that. Your personal interpretation is the best one for you.
Fear and anger can come from frustrated desire. If you are afraid or angry, stop and think. What do you really want and is it really threatened?
Finding your true love in life – romantic or otherwise.
(if reversed) Your answer may lie in repressed desires.
Love lifts you up and heals many things, both in the receiving and the giving.
Love life and true love will find you.
Follow your heart.
Lust and sexuality.
“Even if you don’t want to desire, you still desire not to desire” – Alan Watts
So which one did you pick and why? Does the card raise any questions? Blog and and social media comments are open! Spotify and Anchor FM podcast listeners can submit questions and comments through the “ask a question” section. Podcast people – if it is hard to choose a meaning just by listening, drop by the print blog to see the bulleted list. That might make it easier to choose.
Thank you so much for reading and listening. The blogcast is not monetized and is entirely audience supported. Any likes, subs, shares, follows, tarot reading orders or Tarot Table Memberships you can spare are always appreciated!
Weekend Tarot Turnover intuition building exercises like this one typically post once per week, usually on Saturdays – hence the name. TaoCraft Short Sip Tarot nano episodes post most weekdays, usually mid morning eastern time. Short Sips are Tarot guidance for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. YouChoose Interactive Tarot posts are totally random but post a few times per month. Question and answer posts or other topical episodes give you a behind the scenes look at my side of the Tarot Table. They are even more random. If you follow the blog you’ll all the TaoCraft Tarot content from every platform right in your inbox.
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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