Today’s card is The Hanged Man from the major arcana.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson famously said that “the universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.” By the same token, life is under no obligation to meet our time schedules. Sometimes things take a frustratingly long time to happen. Sometimes things go so slowly nothing seems to be happening at all. Other times life goes lightning fast and takes us by surprise.
Time is literally changeable at super high speeds. Even right here, with both feet firmly planted on the ground, our perception of time seems entirely fluid. Perception is part of the key energy around the card today.
I’ve often said that with the Hanged Man, one person’s stuck in the mud is another person’s day at a spa. As with so many things, a small shift in perspective can change your feeling and experience enormously. One pattern I’ve seen in readings over the years is that a narrow focus on the path ahead breeds frustration. If one aspect of life is taking too long to happen, or if you feel stuck and making no progress, maybe that is another area of life grabbing you by the elbow and trying to get you to pay attention to something else. If things are going slowly, maybe it is because life doesn’t want you to whizz right by the scenery on the side of the road. If you feel stuck, it might be an opportunity in disguise to rest, stop, really see and appreciate where you are right now before running ahead to something new.
Thank you all for reading and listening! I’ll see See you next time on the TaoCraft Tarot blog and the next Sip of Tarot episode of the Clairvoyant Confessional podcast.
Swords symbolize the element of air. They can denote action. Historically they are sometimes associated with negative things because swords were at one time the primary weapon of war. It would be like trying to find spiritual guidance from a card with a machine gun on it.
Today, the energy is lying with the air, mentality and intellect side of the card. A classic meaning for the card is being of two minds about something. Logic and reason are – or at least should be – our first go-to for making major life decisions. Sometimes, however, intellect fails.
Emotion seldom makes the best decision. But neither does cold hard logic and intellect when it is used in isolation, with no emotion or compassion at all.
The figure on the card is blindfolded. That signals the indecision that is part of the card’s meaning, while it also hints that following emotion or intuition might seem like a blind leap of irrational faith to the outside observer. Only the person with their hands on the swords, the person who knows both their logical rationale.
The figure on the card is also seated in front of water, the classic symbol for emotions, wisdom and intuition that we so often see on cards from the suit of cups. That’s not surprising, because people are more than one thing. People are complex. Ideas and experiences have a great deal of overlap as do the card’s symbolism and meanings. Water – emotion and heart – has the person’s back so to speak.
When logic is blinded, heart and compassion supports. When you can’t see the answer, resting in a place of compassion is enough.
Most of the time we say it is a card about balance. It’s also fair to say it is about dynamic equilibrium. Think of a spinning coin or a bicycle in motion or a toy top or a gyroscope. There of lots of examples of things that keep their balance through motion. I’ll leave it to the physics people to explain how that happens and angular momentum and such.
The Tao Te Ching reminds us of a similar but very very broad principle: Living things are supple, able to be in motion. Stiff and motionless is, well, dead.
Movement, and by extension movement as a gateway to balance, is the normal way of things. Feeling overwhelmed when there is too much going on is also the normal way of things.
Life can be a juggling act. Multitasking can make each individual task seem bigger than it really is. But try not to let it get to you. Simplify as much as you can, then have at it. You got this!
Thank you for watching, reading and listening to A Sip of Tarot from TaoCraft Tarot blog and Clairvoyant confessional podcast. You questions and comments are always welcome.
Today’s card is the Magician from the major arcana.
The magician card is traditionally associated with transformation and manifestation. Today’s energy goes along with both. To change things, to transform them, you have to do something differently. To make something, to manifest anything, you first have to first do something.
The broader concept of change would, of course, fall under the Death card. The focus here is cause and effect. The focus here is in the doing. Do nothing and there is no change for the death card to symbolize. The science folks call that inertia.
The magician card often has the symbols of the four minor arcana suits on it. The magician uses all of the elements, all of the concepts from the minor suits and applies them to the concept of transformation and manifestation. The magician incorporates all the ways of doing. All of the suits have various connections to thinking, doing, deciding, withholding, experiencing, all of which are elements of transformation and manifestation.
First decide what you want to change or create. Then do something to start on that new path. Lay the foundation. Do the thing that becomes the cause for the desired effect. Anyone can work that magic.
Thank you for reading and listening to “A sip of Tarot.” on the TaoCraft Tarot blog and Clairvoyant Confessional podcast. Stay tuned for more (almost) daily meditation style Tarot readings in the time it takes to sip from a cup of morning coffee.
My favorite TV quote is from Stranger Things “Mornings are for coffee and contemplation. Coffee. And contemplation.
Now, in the time it takes to sip from your coffee…
ok, ok….tea…hot lemon water…can of Jolt…bloody mary…whatever your favorite first beverage may be…
you can have a (almost) daily morning (ish) one card meditation Tarot reading. Available here on the blog, but also on YouTube, ko-fi and Clairvoyant Confessional podcast
Today’s card is Strength from the major arcana part of the Tarot deck
The strength card is so iconic. It is one of those where the images and symbolism seem pretty consistent across many if not most Waite-Smith based Tarot decks. You almost always see a lion, or some reference to one. Lions have long been a symbol of strength, and yes, I am currently suppressing the urge to imitate the opening line of the “Lion King” movie.
The infinity symbol in the upper left corner of this particular card by Tarot reader and artist Thom Pham is fairly consistent on all Strength and Magician Tarot cards. That is the part that draws my attention this morning.
What is an infinite source of strength?
The answer will, naturally, be different for everyone. It’s the question that matters. Tarot will often ask individual questions rather than give universal answers. There is no universal answer that fits every individual person, but in answering these key questions for yourself, then you will find your way.
In BBC tv show Doctor Who, Clara often says something like “the souffle isn’t in the souffle, it’s in the recipe.” It’s the same idea here. The answer isn’t in the answer, the answer is in the question.
On one hand, Tarot cards asking questions seems evasive and vague and fuel for all of those pedantic skeptical arguments against this kind of spiritual contemplation. On the other hand, asking the just-right question for you to find your own, intimate, individual answer is like a giant flashing neon arrow pointing to exact tree you need in a dark, dense forest. The right question gives as much guidance as the right answer.
Everyone feels tired, injured, fragile or vulnerable sometimes. This card isn’t a pep talk, cheerleader or empty platitude to just go be strong every minute of every day. It’s asking a key question. It’s asking what is your individual source of strength? What is your inspiration, your restorative and your spiritual nourishment? It’s asking you to find it now so it is there when you need it.
Don’t forget: Zombie Cat yes/no Tarot readings by email are $5 off until 31 October 21. “A Sip of Tarot” daily meditation Tarot readings are available here, in even shorter form on YouTube, and wherever you listen to Clairvoyant Confessional podcast.
A pyrrhic victory is a win at enormous cost. You win, but there is absolute carnage everywhere by the time you are done. The name comes from ancient history. I’m not sure, but I think elephants were involved (cue Eddie Izzard – I love her sketch on Latin)
The five of swords tend to be, ultimately, a positive energy card, hinting at likely victory (the dude on the card looks kind of smiley) but you still have to consider the cost. One of the meanings I’ve seen for the card is ‘stubborness’
One of my favorite internet memes is paraphrased G.K. Chesterson quote, “A [warrior] fights not because he hates what is in front of him but because he loves what is behind him.” I think the meme’s substitution of “warrior” for Chesterson’s “true soldier” speaks to the essence of a warrior. It speaks to the difference between defense and blind violence.
There will always be challenges in life. There will be times we have to defend our limits and boundaries. The struggle is real, but what price victory? Are you fighting to project (your idea) or protect (those you love)?
Apt title for the renaming fest that always seems to happen in October. I hope you’ll give Clairvoyant Confessional podcast “Confession #8” a listen to hear what this “sip of tarot” thing is about.
Today’s card is the Six of Cups.
It is most often associated with innocence, nostalgia, childhood, simplicity.
As you can guess, the simplicity thing resonates for me.
But today it is the childhood/child-like aspect that is most energy forward.
A long time ago, I read an interview with Luc Bessom, the director and writer for The Fifth Element, one of my favorite movies. When it was released in ’97 I was training and teaching both tai chi and kung fu, so the scene where Leeloo takes out a room full of Mangalores was high on my list of reasons to like the film. The interview with the director was talking about casting and why he chose Mila Jovovich to play Leeloo. He said she captured that sense of innocence, the feeling of seeing things for the very first time. At the same time, the character required that she have a sense of strength and competence and the essence of the “supreme being” that she was. Star Man and Dr. Vanderspeigle from Resident Alien are other fiction characters with this quality.
That is the head space that the six of cups is pointing toward today. A fresh, child LIKE look at a problem or a situation doesn’t have to abandon your hard earned competence and knowledge in the process. Brain bleach doesn’t exist. There are some things you can’t un-see, but you can always re-see for the first time.
The October announcement included the NEW membership tier on K0-fi. This blog is STILL 100% free, will contain everything in one place, including reminder links to the memebers-only content. Of course, only members can view the post at the end of the reminder link.
There will STILL be blog-only content here that you can’t get anywhere else on the web. What I’m trying to say is be a member & follow this blog and you get EVERYTHING, every scrap of Tarot content I create. The monthly premium is the same cost of a one card meditation reading except that you get a three card reading per month plus all the rest. Since domain and web hosts won’t take Tarot readings in barter, there is a nominal fee to support the blog, the podcast and the time put in to creating it all including the YouTube shorts (almost) everyday.
*infomercial voice* That’s right folks! For the low, low cost of $5 a month, you get a three card member’s reading each month PLUS random special offers and giveaways PLUS a private, personal “Year Ahead” reading by email when you join.
Here is an example of what the “month ahead” members only reading look like each month, with each card serving as a them for about 10 days or so in the first, middle and last thirds of the month.
As I type this,* that sounds way more complicated than it actually needs to be. Come to think of it, I’m going to do “pathway” style readings instead…your path through the month.
Either way, bottom line, you get a THREE card member’s reading for the price of ONE card meditation reading.
Witches Tarot used with permission
October is the anniversary of TaoCraft Tarot’s “grand opening” in 2018. It fits that October is our first members-only monthly reading.
Just for this first layout, I’ll open the reading up to everyone on the main website in a few days, to let them know about this new feature. After that, you’ll have to be a member or supporter to see the three card “month ahead” readings. ONLY monthly members get a free “year ahead” reading by email when you join.
October has a regal energy. I’m no astronomer or astrologer, but I get the mental image of Saturn. I don’t get a general – energy sense about what that could mean, but let’s just mention it in case it resonates with someone…a birth month or astrology association would be my guess.
The early part of the month has a practical get-things-done sort of feel. The energy reminds me of when I was young and my grandmother canning everything under the sun from their garden. Things may be busy, but it seems short lived and will pay off later. Like the soup she would make in the winter. Don’t wait for someone else to lead the way. It’s up to you to decide what to can and what soup to make later, to extend the analogy.
Pages are learning, swords are mind and intellect. The middle part of the month is time to feed your mind, to free your mind. New ideas are important. Curl up with a good book
Wands are fire and passion. Toward the end of the month, take what you’ve done, take what you’ve learned and light it up, metaphorically speaking. Apply the ideas that the page part of the month brought to you.
This month, the reading is mostly an example of what to expect in the months to come. You can roughly apply each card as a theme for 10 days at a time or just follow your intuition and sense the shifts in energy as the month goes on.
As an extra celebration for TaoCraft’s anniversary month, I’d like to offer a free Zombie cat yes/no reading to the supporters and members who claim it before October 31, 2021 – my Halloween treat to you! Just email TaoCraftTarot@gmail with your question. Ask anything and Zombie Cat will have at it! The usual disclaimer of a 50% chance of being dead wrong applies.
Who’s Zombie Cat? My slightly snarky feline alter ego inspired by Schrodinger’s thought experiment and an episode of Menage A Tarot (a 2015 podcast I did with David Dear, of “Ninth World Journal” and Kate of “Daily Tarot Girl” You can read the original Zombie Cat blog post here.
* “No plan survives first contact with implementation” – Adam Savage, I think.
photo: Witches Tarot, art by Ellen Dugan and Mark Evans used with permission http://llwellynpublishing.com/permissions
Today’s Tarot card is the High Priestess from the major arcana.
In physics, or at least in popularized science shows, they say higher dimensions are in contact with us. The fifth dimension and higher are described as being impossibly close to each and every object, each and every cell in our bodies. The mysteries of the universe are literally close at hand. Magic lives within the mundane.
Arthur Clark famously said that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” To my limited education in the matter, higher dimensions and quantum physics more than sufficiently advanced to seem that way. I wonder if all the sturm and drang about writers connecting advanced science to esoteric philosophy being “pseudoscience” is really just a matter of semantics. If a person is untrained in physics and calculus but adept at philosophy and spirituality, of course they are going to default to non-scientific language to communicate difficult ideas. It isn’t “pseudo” any more than English is a pseudo language compared to Swahili or vice versa.
Arguably saying “the apples fall off trees” has more real life value than saying “gravitational force is equal to the mass of two objects multiplied together, divided by the distance between their centers then multiplied by the gravitational constant” Both are true, both are valid and both have their own kind of importance.
Whether you call it higher dimensions, universal life energy, the Force, the Tao, or just plain magic, the mystical parts of life are integrated within the mundane. Mystery is a close layer beneath everything.
Thank you for reading and listening.
Today’s Tarot short format card readings by Ronda Snow of TaoCraft Tarot are available on multiple platforms starting in October 2021. Find these sip of tea sized Tarot readings on YouTube Shorts, Clairvoyant Confessional podcast, the blog page on Tao Craft Tarot .com and on the Tao Craft Tarot’s ko-fi .com blog.
The main blog contains print-only content not available anywhere else.
The ko-fi blog contains members-only content not available anywhere else.
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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