Tag: pittsburgh tarot reader

New Year, New Stuff

Happy Year of the Tiger & Happy new podcast!

Happy year of the tiger 2022!

The year is full of new ones, depending on which calendar you use. I like the lunar one because fish and noodles and sticky rice balls oh my!

As I understand it, one of the many marvelous traditions surrounding the lunar new year (in addition to the food) is that you clean the house before the new year to symbolically sweep out old negativity and misfortune After that, you don’t sweep or clean for the first days of the new year so you don’t accidentally brush away any new and good luck coming in. Any excuse to skip housework for a few days is good fortune in my book. It’s out with the old, in the new. I wonder if it works for podcasts.

I loved doing the Menage A Tarot podcast with David and Kate. After its seemingly permanent hiatus and my rebranding from Modern Oracle to TaoCraft Tarot was finally done, “Clairvoyant Confessional” dropped into my lap as an idea for a new podcast. I don’t have the skill or the software to do it myself, so when the WordPress & Anchor FM connection launched, I jumped at the chance to bring “Confessional” into reality.

But, as it turned out, making a good monologue driven podcast with a pirate radio, Delilah after dark sort of feel was harder than I thought it would be, even with these super easy to use tools. And, as it also turns out, monologuing like a super villain isn’t as much fun as you might think. It gets really old really fast.

In keeping with lunar new year, I’m sweeping out the old style podcast once and for all. Yesterday was one last confessional pirate radio monologue before going full cyberpunk and letting Siri’s second cousin Remy do the talking because dammit Jim, I’m a writer not a narrator and can make very long complex sentences like this one.

Rather than chasing a nifty idea with mediocre execution, I want to give you the best of me and my actual clairvoyance by changing – not ending – the podcast. The podcast will be the audio edition of the blog, which includes short sip (almost) daily Tarot, You Choose Interactive Tarot, and bigger reads like the upcoming Oracle’s Toolkit series. And, if any of you can work up the courage to submit a question through the blog comments or social media, I’ll answer your question in the blog and podcast. Instead of “I have a confession” this could be a “Real Tarot for Real People” kind of blog and podcast. Ask me anything. I’ll post some sort of answer, maybe even one with a Tarot card or two or a few.

You can listen to the final confession HERE

Thank you to everyone reading or listening. I appreciate you and I’m glad you are here.

I also appreciate any likes, subs, shares, follows, or Tarot Table memberships you can spare. Your support through the purchase of private Tarot readings and the “buy me a coffee link” goes toward the creation of this free-for-everyone Tarot content.

Patient Connection

Today’s card is the Ace of Pentacles

Pentacles are related to the physical realm. Often it connects to career and money energy. Other times it is more abstract, pointing toward a need for practical action. The ace, of course tends to care a sense of newness and promise. The classic interpretation is that good fortune is coming.

Intuition speaks in whispers and symbols. Sometimes it speaks in mental images and pop music references. That’s how it is working today. As I look at the card, I get the mental image of the spider web emoji and am reminded of the 1980s song “patience” by Guns and Roses. I don’t think it has any connection to any other lyrics or meaning behind the song. It feels like a way to emphasize the word “patience.”

It reminds me a little bit of the Neil DeGrasse Tyson quote that “The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.” Neither is obligated to meet our expectations or our timetables.

It also reminds me of the advice to be kind, because we never know what another person might be going through.

Putting all of that together, take heart. Good things can come of it all. Be patient. Everything is connected, and there is much we don’t know about other parts of that web of all things.

I appreciate you. Thank you for being here.

Thank you for watching the Short Sip real-world card draw on YouTube Shorts and on Instagram reels. 

A longer card reading follows the card draw on the TaoCraft Tarot Blog and in audio on the TaoCraft Tarot Podcast

Ko-fi “Tarot Table” memberships, the virtual tip jar coffee mug, and private email Tarot reading purchases all support this free-for-everyone Tarot content. Your likes, subs, shares, and follows are also appreciated.

Take A Breath

Thank you for listening, watching and reading TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your favorite beverage. Mine is coffee. Thank you all for your support through the virtual coffee tip mug, and all of your likes, subs, shares, and follows. I appreciate you and I am glad you are here.

Today’s card is the seven of pentacles:

Typically, the pentacles are work, career, practical real-world related ideas. Today the energy is more thoughtful than usual. Overall, it feels connected to the Hermit energy that came through for the Quiet Night post a few weeks ago. I’ll link to the blog post in the show notes for those of you listening through the podcast.

Speaking of the podcast – I’m really loving this text to speech automatic conversion thing wordpress and anchor fm has going. It puts the best of me – my writing – into the podcast. I know some people don’t like the robot voice, but I’m just cyberpunk enough to enjoy letting Siri’s second cousin Remy do the heavy lifting with the narration thing.

But back to the seven of pentacles

When I was very young, my father was manager of a local retail store in a small Appalachian town. Other than a mechanical cash register I don’t think they had calculators much less any sort of computer. Every January, it was common for businesses like that to close for a few days in January to take inventory of all of their goods and to go over the books and reconcile everything and who knows what all. I just remember it was a lot of work and a few very long days for dad. They always had inventory clearance sale to get as much stuff out of the store before starting that whole process. That was always a big thing, It’s how I got my favorite mickey mouse umbrella. Yay clearance sales!

There is a little bit of that kind of energy here.

Tarot cards, especially these one card daily meditations, are more helpful when they are put into context.

In a larger, multiple card layout, you get context from the client’s questions and concerns combined with the layout as a whole. That’s why multiple card layouts are more difficult and time consuming to do. Not only do you have more individual cards to interpret, but you have more connections and context to knit together too.

In a single card draw, you can get context from purely intuitive cues, but also, as is the case here, from the environment around you. My attention is drawn to the cold weather, the snow I can see out the window, the time of year, and that memory of inventory time. The context for this card is, in a way, the time of year.

All things considered, I think this card is telling us it is inventory time.

If the part about clearance sales and mickey mouse umbrellas appeals to you, then yes, maybe it is time to clean and clear and let go, as is traditional at new years, including next week’s lunar new year.

Happy Year of the Tiger by the way.

I see a greater energy flowing toward the inventory part. It is a very introspective energy, again it feels similar to the Hermit energy. Today feels like a good time to stop, take a deep breath and take account. What is the realistic situation around you? What are your hopes and aspirations, really. When you dig down to the root of it all, what is the cause, what the reason behind what you hope and dream and do. What resources do you have at hand? What seeds do you need to plant? What seeds do you need obtain to plan to plant later when spring comes?

It’s not a time to beat up on yourself for falling short of goals. But it may be time to make new ones. Sometimes you have to count your ducks before you worry about getting them in a row.

A deep breath and a little mental quiet time can help figure it all out.

Thank you again for reading, watching and listening. See you at the next sip!

YouChoose Interactive Tarot: Do Differently

You choose: you pick the card, you decide how to apply it, and then get today’s reading the for your card.

This week the overall energy seems to focus on doing things, but for different reasons.

Ace cards have a thread of beginning energy (although not with the same wattage as the Fool card from the major arcana.) They also typically carry the essence of the suit, which is what draws my attention in this instance. Pentacles are connected with the physical realm, often career, work, or wealth. Today feels like the physical realm in general with the advice to engage with the physical realm to rest the mind. Think in terms of a long jog, or the classic hot shower where genius ideas are born.

Swords and knights are action. Swords are also connected with the element of air which in turn points to mind and intellect. If you chose the knight of swords (no spoilers! you’ll have to watch the video and pick a card to see if this one is yours) then the energy for you is also flowing toward doing and action, but something that combines doing and thinking, as you might with following a pattern or recipe or anything new really.

Cups cards connect to the element of water, intuition, emotion, and closest relationships. This is also doing oriented. but working with friends. Not so much working on a career or physical-realm task as the other cards, but actively polling your brain trust. It feels like the thing to DO is to poll the audience so to speak, to reach out to trusted friends. The idea of “two heads are better than one” will serve you well – especially if the other head is someone you have a good relationship with.

Sunday Tarot Turnover: Inspiration from Anywhere

Hi everyone!

Sorry to go silent for a couple of days. This is the part we talked about back at the new year where you have to make a plan before life can blow it apart. That was the plan. This is blowing it part. Although I have to admit – I like the SpaceX description “unplanned rapid disassembly on the launch pad” much better.

BUT all is well and is well and back on target after just one of those weeks, so here we are at another Sunday Tarot Turnover. This is a blog exclusive intuition building exercise where I turn the card reading over to you. I use one of my my real-world decks (public domain image used here instead of photo) to draw a card for today. It’s followed by a list of keywords and interpretations from the blog archives or inspired by favorite sources coming soon to a suggested reading list.

MOST important is YOUR own interpretation. What does the card mean to you? What is your inner intuition tell you when prompted by the card?

Today: Three of Wands.

If you have any questions about this card or intuition/Tarot in general, feel free to drop them in the comments. Mostly I answer questions in the blog rather than individually, so we all can benefit. You never know who your question might also help! Don’t worry – it’ll still be private. I never use names or identifying information in any blog post.

The Oracle’s Toolkit: Introduction

Introducing a new blog post series about ways to help improve intuition

I was talking with a really interesting, insightful, lovely person last evening (you know who you are … and I still think your intuitive light shines more than you realize.)

One of the things that came up in conversation is learning to read Tarot cards.

I can teach you how to do that, and have offered small group workshops on how to do one card meditation Tarot readings for a long time – until covid came along, anyway. My ebook PeaceTarot is the basis for the workshop. The book is a basic how-to guide for DIY daily Tarot. My hope is to bring the book and workshop to live, online, private one to one sessions this year. If you’d be interested in that kind of private zoom-meeting lesson, drop a comment below. Knowing that there is an iota of interest in private Tarot reading lessons will bump them up on the ever growing list of sh*t I want to do to make TaoCraft Tarot better for you.

BUT, as was also part of the conversation, Tarot isn’t for everyone. It does have layers and lots of moving parts and can get very confusing and overwhelming. That’s why we pros are here. You don’t have to juggle all of that if you don’t want to. We are, you know, professionals at sorting the cards out for you.

That is what makes Tarot so useful. It has the depth and complexity to encompass all that life can throw at us and still reflect each person’s unique energy message.

Even with all of that, get right down to it, Tarot is a tool. It is just one of dozens and bunches in an oracle’s toolkit. When you get down to the root essence of it all, the only oracle that exists is human intuition. All the rest of it is just bells and whistles, hammers and wrenches of the heart and mind.

Tarot cards, oracle cards, playing cards; you could do an intuitive reading with uno or old maid cards if you wanted to.

Tarot cards, rune stones, pendulums, black mirrors, crystal balls, palm lines, star patterns, head bumps, chicken guts, random songs on the radio or what-have-you; all of them are just tools. I call them oracle tools, and they are simply just that. All of these things and more are simply things that help us access and communicate our innate intuition. They are like microphones that amplify the quiet whispers of spirit and energy. For the deep and sometimes hidden well of human wisdom, your intuition is the pump that brings the wisdom to the surface and these oracle tools are the cup of water that primes the pump.

The best thing is that you don’t need a single tool to unlock your intuition. With a little time and mindful attention, intuition is right at your fingertips quick as a thought. Think of TV psychics who just say way they see (or hear or feel or know) with no tools, props or drama required. That isn’t to say that they are better psychics than those of us that use these oracle tools, they use a different microphone. We all have something good to say. Not everyone is a good direct speech communicator. Oracle tools give us a way to put the non-verbal intuitive message into useful verbal form.

We may not need oracle tools, but they do make the whole process easier and a bit more fun. In that sense they are oracle toys as much as oracle tools.

Back on my old ModernOracleTarot.com Tarotbytes blog, I started a post series called “The Oracle’s Toolkit” It didn’t get very far before the whole re-branding to TaoCraft Tarot process kicked in. Inspired by the conversation last night, I’m bring that back too. We’ll start with the original first for parts about pendulums and pens, then move on to other oracle tools like scrying objects, rune stones and more.

I won’t make any promises how long the posts will be or how often they will happen. I hope you’ll follow the blog so you can see them whenever they do happen.

Short Sip Tarot returns in the morning. See you at the next sip!

Just looked at the latest new case count and deaths for our county for January 9-15. Yikes! Guess that sticks a fork in in-person readings for a while. Party Tarot is closed until further notice.

Please stay tuned to reputable news sources for up to date information. Avoid whackadoodle conspiracies and make good choices to stay as healthy and well as you can.

Being healthy and alive are the best oracle tools of all.

Getting the band back together

Thom Pham’s Heart of Stars Tarot is hands down one of my favorite decks. The colors and artwork are beautiful plus his writing on each card is adept and thought-provoking. Best of all, most of the images are based on movies and television.

That is exactly how my intuition often works. Almost every reading has a movie or song reference tied to one or more of the cards. Those kinds of references have multiple benefits. Not only does it communicate the message more clearly to me so I can do the best possible reading for the client, a pop culture reference is something that we might have in common which makes it very easy to describe the energy to them. I always mention any pop-culture references that come through when I ‘m doing a reading. Not only does it clarify the current message and improve overall communication, the client may have some private connection to the reference that gives extra background context that the card alone couldn’t give.

Pop culture references by way of intuition keeps Tarot relevant to our time at the same time that it’s connecting us to timeless wisdom.

Today’s motion picture feature is the Blues Brothers. I’ve been earworming “we’re getting the band back together” the whole time I was writing a post by that name on my personal blog. I’m getting the band back together, except Tarot is singing lead this time.

A long time ago in a blogisphere far, far away, I started doing Tarot readings to help finance my tuition and dissertation. After I finished getting my Ph.D off the internet like Dr. Duffenshmirtz, I tried to bundle the Tarot under a holistic health consulting practice I was trying to start on the aforementioned blog. It didn’t work. So I put the natural health work under my name, kept the Tarot separate on what was then ModernOracleTarot.com with its Tarotbytes blog and added Quirk & Flotsam on Etsy which again combined the meditation tutorial supplies with Tarot readings.

With all of those names and scattered focus, it was a little bit of a hot mess.

BUT it was a hot mess that I learned a tremendous amount from.

One of the most pivotal things that I learned was that I am not a healer.

I. Am. NOT. A healer.

As much as I may have wanted to think of myself as a healer at one point in time, I’ve come to realize that it was an aspiration that came from an unhealthy place, not an authentic one. Psychic advisor, spiritual guide, coach, tutor, Taoist, Buddhist, atheist, witch, knitter, hockey fan – sure, why not? But healer? No thank you, not any more.

I never set out to be a teacher, but that is largely what the natural health has always been about. Old school naturopaths in every discipline and culture used education as a way to make a lasting impact on their patient’s overall health and well being. By teaching and encouraging a healthy lifestyle, these tutorials can give you the tools to build a healthier lifestyle for yourself. They call it complimentary care for a reason. I’m not here to heal you any more than I’m here to predict the future with Tarot.

I’m here to encourage, inspire, facilitate processes and spark ideas. Healing implies fixing a specific something which equates to giving a person being given that one proverbial fish. I’m here to teach you to fish or at least give you some ideas how to improve your own fishing net, so to speak.

It wasn’t my intention to become a coffee sipping yoda, yelling suggestions and encouragement from the cave opening while Luke fought his dark side, but here we are.

Cue the yoda related pop culture song reference.

That is why this time around I’m calling them natural health tutorials. I give you information so you can decide if you want to pursue ongoing in-person treatment with a practitioner near you or just generally help you craft a healthy lifestyle for yourself.

Whatever you name it, this time around, all the original band members are back together under one Tarot themed roof, or at least under the Reiki menu tab. Click HERE for more information or to schedule.

OR Tarot is always here, no appointment needed. It’s all here for you to explore.

The choice, as always, is yours.

Magpie Skills

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your morning coffee. Today: Queen of Swords and the skills of a magpie

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Thank you so much for watching, reading and listening. Your support through likes, subs, shares, blog follows, podcast follows, reading orders and the virtual tip jar coffee mug is always greatly appreciated!

Today’s card is the Queen of Swords.

Magpie birds have a reputation for taking shiny objects. The Audubon Society web page suggests that they collect stuff to attract a mate, that they don’t necessarily gravitate toward shiny things, and it tends to be food.

I think people have a little bit in common with magpies. I’m down with the collect food part. I do like to keep the pantry stocked in winter so I can hide from the occasional snow or ice storm when they come along.

My parents were collectors. Not in a random magpie or hoarding sort of way, but in a collector hobby sort of way. There was this sort of expectation that everyone had something that they liked and collected and you would get that thing for birthdays and holidays until you gave up in a muffled voice from under the pile of whatever it was.

I never did quite get on that bandwagon. I tried to think of something I could collect, but in a way I was the most magpie of all because I’d rather have one of a wide variety of things rather than a wide variety of just one thing. The older I got, the more intangible the collection became. I like collecting ideas and when possible, skills. If memory serves, Adam Savage called it “task directed learning.” It’s not necessary to be an absolute master of absolutely everything. It’s ok to magpie a few useful skills along the way. You don’t have to be an electrician to change a light bulb. You don’t have to be a New York designer to sew on a button.

I’m so impressed with odd skills people pick up as they go through life, especially the really surprising ones from people’s childhood. They are so pure and give such open, innocent unabashed pleasure. You know, things like a card trick or being able to burp the alphabet on command.

It seems we all have some skill that we have magpie-ed at some point in time.

The Queen of Swords is classically a card of stepping into your power and owning the things that you do well. Today the energy is like that, but on hobby collector sort of scale rather than the major life epiphany sort of scale. Some quirky little thing you’ve learned along the way just might be the answer you are looking for.

Thank you again for watching, listening and reading. See you at the next sip!

Do the thing

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot guidance for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today its the knight of pentacles and do the thing.

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Your support through likes, subs, shares, blog follows, reading orders and the virtual coffee mug is always, always appreciated.

Today’s card is the Knight of Pentacles.

Knights evoke the image of action while pentacles are connected with earth, work, career, wealth, and our relationship with the physical realm.

Today the vibe is very down to earth. Often pentacles brings in an element of practicality. Today the energy is so rooted, so down to earth, so low key that it verges on drudgery instead of practicality. At the same time there is a short duration feel. It is a little like bit like the notion of just ripping a bandage off and getting the pain over with.

Today’s advice is to do what needs done, just do it and get on the other side of it.

Your emotional energy and enthusiasm are optional as long as you can ride up on your horse and do the thing and get the job done. It isn’t suggesting that we phone it in as they say, or slack off on effort. There is a knight’s sense of chivalry. Do the thing, do the job well with all of your usual brilliance and competence, just don’t waste any energy on extra fanfare or drama.

Do the thing and you are free to ride off into the sunset.

And there the energy of the card does the thing and rides off into the sunset.

These aren’t called nano-episodes for nothing. Tarot is like that. It never fails to amaze me how the energy adjusts the length and intensity of a reading to a person’s individual needs…or in this case, the individual day’s needs.

Thank you so much for reading, watching and listening. See you at the next sip!

YouChoose Interactive Tarot: Look or Listen

Whether you watch or listen, you can interact with the cards to choose the message that was meant for you.

Starting now, you can look or listen to YouChoose Interactive Tarot. Blog posts are available as audio in the TaoCraft Tarot podcast on Anchor FM, Spotify, Stitcher and more.

If you are watching, the videos are the same as always. Choose your card, then see the reveal, just like always.

If you are listening to audio only, you still choose your card and how you apply it. The choice just comes at a different part of the process. If you can’t see or visualize your choice of card at the beginning, listen through to the end and then choose the card and description that best fits your needs. You are still interacting with the cards and still using your intuition to guide you to the parts of the discussion that is most meaningful for you today.

That being said, I’ll leave you to watch the video above.

Thanks for watching, reading AND listening. See you at the next sip!