Things can’t get better if they don’t change. Without change, there can be no hope for improvement or problem solving.
It’s not change that we fear: it’s risk.
When things change, there is a danger that things can get worse. When things change, there is a risk of something precious ending or being lost.
If you remember it, it lives on.
We can’t control change. Life brings change and all the risk that entails – but it brings the possibility of brighter days right along with it.
Just few quick thoughts:
First and foremost, thank you all for reading the blog, following the socials, listening to the podcast and being so supportive. It means a lot. I hope all the goodnesses and more come back to all who give them
Was in a store yesterday, when there was a giant thunderclap and brief downpour outside. Afterward, for a moment, even that public place was silent. For a while longer it was very quiet. Not a lot of people where there, but there was still an oddly quiet, subdued, almost serene few minutes.
The energy has been a little weird lately, but it feels a little less so today. It feels like a moment of silence, a holding of breath and a turning of moments between seasons. It isn’t quite the drudgery of summer ending but not quite yet the excitement and festival atmosphere that Fall can bring. It is a moment of silence and motionlessness between the thunder and the aftermath. May it be the silence after the storm, and not before yet another.
********
Deja Vu. Have we just had this card and this energy recently? There is something out there, in the general zeitgeist energies that is a bit of a flashback replay.
I try to be vigilant about blaming my own issues or emotions on energy, spirit, or any of this psychic intuitive thing…true enough, this could be my annual ‘I don’t like August’ funk, but the volume is turned up higher than usual. I’m not sure what or why, but there is some abstract something that feels like March 2020. Yes, I have my own stuff that probably accounts for a big part of it, and no, I’m not going to share any of it here because I’m very protective of everyone’s privacy, but still, there is some something in the ethers that’s ringing the old intuitive-sensitive bell too.
Has anyone else noticed anything like that or is it just my need for another cup of coffee and a nap? Seriously. Comments and email are open.
For whatever reason, this card and its energy today seems all too familiar.
There were a few ideas so equal, it was hard to pick one for the video caption. First there is the boilerplate “it all depends on your perspective” idea. Think about the view from the standing person’s perspective vs the seated person’s perspective on the card. The standing person can see the way ahead is actually clear and can see the landscape fully for what it really is. If the seated person sees anything of the landscape or the water, it is through sharp edges, gaps in a wall of swords.It is very much reminescent of that Obiwan line from Star Wars about what he told Luke being true “from a certain point of view.” or the parable of the blind men and the elephant. Small shifts in perspective can create big changes in feeling and understanding.
Equal with the idea of perspective, the energy idea of obstacles steps forward. Funny thing, obstacles. Seems like you will either crash into them, crash through them, or figure a way around them. If an obstacle is perpetually floating just in front of you, like swords stuck in the canoe you are riding in, is it really an obstacle at all?
Interactive Tarot videos might be away for the second half of August, but I won’t be. I’m right here and available for email readings anytime. Order 24/7 and I’ll get the reading right to your inbox, usually within 12-24 hours (weekends and holidays are slower) And there is always new blog-only content trickling in. It pays to follow the blog. It’s the only way to get ALL of TaoCraft Tarot content one convenient place.
So I’m not on hiatus one bit.
I’ll be right here winding some things down from summer and spooling some other things up for fall. You can preview some of it now at https://ko-fi.com/taocrafttarot. Your support goes toward webhosting the blog, and producing more posts and podcast episodes.
I am, as always grateful to you for sharing some time with me and reading this. You rock!
“No plan survives first contact with implementation” – unknown
“Follow the process, not the plan” – Adam Savage
“Actually sir, after all these years, I just, sort of, go with it.” – Harry Potter (Half-Blood Prince, JK Rowling and yeah, her anti-trans stance has soured the books for me)
You can read books until the cows come home, but there is no substitute for actual experience, and that includes the experience of explaining something. While it may not be the high stakes intensity of “see one, do one, teach one” in medical training, the same concept applies to most things, including Tarot, intuition development.
Don’t get me wrong. Books are treasures. Reading is invaluable. Especially about things we can’t easily access in the real world. Books open vistas of space and time we otherwise could never experience. Reading, learning, growing are life long things, or at least they should be.
I love writing stuff. But a writer can’t fit what they write to everyone. Even when I write a custom Tarot reading with your own unique card layout, you are still involved. Writers encode information…we as readers are responsible for decoding and implementing the information. Which isn’t always as easy as it sounds. That’s where Adam Savage’s advice and Harry Potters adaptability comes into play. Things never go perfectly to plan, so we have to rely on the processes we know and just go with it. Good or bad, a result will happen. Good or bad, there is something to be learned from what we do as much as what we read.
Then comes Einstein
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough” – Albert Einstein
Explain something. That will teach it to you as much as anything. Try to explain it – whatever your “it” is – simply. Writing leads to understanding as much as it demonstrates understanding. Maybe more. Such is the value of blogs and journals. You don’t have to be Hemingway to write. You don’t have to share it or effectively educate other people. Write, teach something. Even if it is just in your imagination, if you learn from what you teach, either through the process or the end product, then it is mission accomplished.
There is no teacher quite like experience. Any topic can benefit from a little learn by doing…especially if that doing includes a little simplification, synthesis, teaching and explaining to help you really wrap your head around the topic at hand.
New Clairvoyant Confessional is up. Buying your friendly neighboorhood clairvoyant a mug of coffee supports the blog, the podcast and everything else brewing around here.
Zoom/phone tarot by appointment is OPEN! Just PURCHASE -> SCHEDUE -> ENJOY
NO APPOINTMENT NEEDED for email distance Tarot readings. Order 24/7 on the home page.
Stay tuned….you know, follow / subscribe … to the blog to be the first to know when in-person readings return.
I don’t know why.
It doesn’t matter why, really. I like to name my blogs. Maybe it is my inner sixth grader who wanted to be a journalist pretending to name a newspaper. More likely it is my outer gen-X-er trying to get organized. Even more likely it’s my attempt to pique your interest.
Shakespeare wrote that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Bill was right. You could call it a fantastic fartflower and it would still give off exactly the same molecules that smell exactly the same way as it does when we call it a rose.
The problem is that humans are more than a molecule detector. Our olfactory nerves connect to a brain that is chock full of memories & emotions. If we attach unpleasant memories or emotions to the name, then a fantastic fartflower might not smell as sweet after all. On the other hand, maybe roses really don’t smell all that great but our perception of the fragrance changes because of all of the positive associations with roses like love, romance, beauty, summertime and so on.
I have no training in marketing, but I would guess that it’s much easier to interest people in something named a rose. Which gets back to naming my blogs. A title is a fast, easy way to tell you what the blog is about while hopefully enticing you to read more. I want to sell you on the idea of reading the blog and a good name helps with that, or so it seems.
Marketing and promotion are weirdly uncomfortable if not nearly taboo in spirituality related fields like Tarot. Movies have trailers, and bands promote themselves all the time, but it is different for a clairvoyant. Given all of the scams and grift that have abused the name, it’s no wonder that words like psychic carry more connotations than a word like rose ever could. Practicing our art, promoting our art, and promoting a legitimate artistic business all while trying to stay out of culture war crosshairs is all a very tricky thing to do.
I recently named my blog “Portfolio.” because Tarot is my art, and the blog literally is my portfolio. I use it to showcase both my writing and my Tarot reading skills. Artists take portfolios to job interviews to showcase their work. If you read the blog, and then get a Tarot reading with me, the reading should meet or exceed your expectations because you’ll know in advance exactly what to expect. For a potential employer, a portfolio builds trust in an artist’s work. I hope the blog (and this podcast) will build your trust in my work too.
In 2018 I changed my website, blog and social media name. I re-branded everything from Modern Oracle Tarot to the TaoCraft Tarot. Ever since then, I get caught up in the idea of names about once a year, usually around the Fall anniversary of TaoCraft Tarot’s grand opening. Contrary to the “rose by any name” theory, names can actually be very powerful things.
To manifest anything, to accomplish any goal, you must first name it.
The more clear and precise a goal is, the more clear and precise the outcome can be. By the same token, that high precision limits the possibilities. A more open, adaptable and inclusive goal can increase your chances of a satisfying result. A name helps in both instances. A name can be as broad or as precise as needed. A name can be changed as time goes on. To meet a goal, you have to have one. To meet a goal, it must first be identified.
The power of names is even more evident when it comes to personal growth and becoming a better person.
What is the best part of you as you are right now? What is your very best current trait? Name it. Wrap yourself in it. Embrace that name for yourself at least for a few hours.
Then think of a personal quality that you want to acquire or increase. What would life be like if you were already that thing? Name it. Try that aspirational quality on for a while. See how it fits. You might not need to grow into it as much as you first thought.
After being raised by evangelicals and nicknamed “brainiac” in junior high, it was odd to add the namef “tarot reader” or “clairvoyant” to the list. Once I could identify with those names for some of the things I do, it opened whole new vistas of comfort and authenticity. But that is another blog post from another time. I’ll put links to related posts in the show notes.
Now here is a real challenge.
What label, trait, or quality is the name that shall not be named? What is your own personal Voldemort? What name is a bridge too far? Now, I’m not saying you should cross that bridge or go too far in any respect, but at least look at it. Consider its architecture. For me it took decades….decades…to admit the truth to myself about being an atheist or even harboring an interest in witchcraft. It took a longer time to realize that we don’t have to renounce one label when we pick up another. The human spirit is big enough that many traits and names can coexist not just harmoniously but synergistically. We are more than the sum of our parts. Our better parts shine when we name them and live them.
Whatever you want to be, try saying “I am” then fill in the blank with that thing. Names are necessary for good old fashioned affirmations too.
How does that make you feel? How does it feel to name yourself the thing you could never admit that you are? More importantly, how does it feel to name yourself the thing you’ve always wanted to be?
Name your worst trait and it will step to the front. Name your best trait and it will grow. The labels we place on others and that others place on us can help or hurt just as powerfully. Take care with the names you use for yourself and your fellow humans.
Thank you for listening today and for your ongoing support. I appreciate it more than you know. I always appreciate a good cup of coffee too. Any contributions to my virtual coffee mug supports the free blog posts and future podcast episodes.
Speaking of future podcast episodes, please send any questions you have for a clairvoyant. Ask me anything as they say. I may even do a Tarot reading for the answer. Contact information is on the blog and in the show notes.
This is the end of season 1. Clairvoyant confessional will be on hiatus until mid September. I’d like to say I’ll be using that time to learn how to edit audio files and figure out how to make this a better podcast. But honestly…the confessional will probably be back with the same raw, unedited, amateurish, pirate radio aesthetic that it has now.
I’m a clairvoyant and I have a confession. I still don’t know all that much about making a podcast.
Name related posts:
Mail your questions for the clairvoyant to ClairvoyantConfessional@gmail.com
“Money can’t buy happiness. But it sure can rent it for a while.”
Kim Grunenfelder, comedien
Invest in your happiness. It helps if you can be happy with things that fit your budget.
“Simple pleasures are the last healthy refuge in a complex world.” – Oscar Wilde
I’m so not a morning person.
One of my absolute favorite lines from any series ever was in Stranger Things when Sheriff Hopper said that “mornings are for coffee and contemplation.”
*raises mug of dark roast to THAT idea*
The Four of Cups has that sort of feel to it. Cups cards reflect close circle relationships. You can’t get any closer to you than you. Tarot is first and foremost an art form of personal development and personal internal spiritual practice. All that crime drama horror movie predict the future fix your love life nonsense is exactly that. Unsurprisingly, all of the cards have some aspect, even a minor one, that can help us to engage with life in a more satisfying way. You know, like the “personal enrichment” use in the small print disclaimer.
When I say satisfying I mean satisfying like a hot cuppa coffee on a day that starts just a little too early.
The Four of Cups has been read to mean all sorts of things: dissatisfaction, (look at the guy’s pouting toddler body language on the card) moping, abiding, meditation, abiding with emotional pain, thoughts or activity below the surface, serenity, meditation, contemplation.
The idea that steps most forward to my mind is the meditation and contemplation one.
I ‘hear’ (meaning that the intuition comes as mental words instead of mental images, so no, when I say that I’m not hearing things for goodness’ sake) – but “meet your meditation where it lives.”
And I do mean meditation.
For some a long run is meditative. Knitting is meditative. Braiding bullwhips is meditative. For others it is the classic cushin sitting zazen TM meditation style. As I understand it, there is a lot of overlap between zen, ch’an, taoist and transcendental meditation styles and it seems that everyone who tries it, loves it. Meditation is a pleasure. If not, I suspect you’ve been told something if not wrong, at least unhelpful.
But anyway, the point is you can sit under any tree to meditate. You don’t have to sit under a tree at all. Meditating is easy. Finding where and how it naturally, easily fits into your life is a good first step.
Even if your first meditative step of the day is contemplating a good mug of coffee.
What do you do when the lights go out? Darkness is a normal, natural thing. It happens every night.
We are the children of technology, descendants of fire and flame. We like light. It tells us what is in the darkness, it tells us we are safe and whether immediate danger exists or not. We don’t like it when the lights go out. When they do we grab flashlights, light candles, build campfires…as we should. If it’s an emergency, we need that to secure our surroundings and our loved ones. For the sake of argument, let’s assume for a moment that it isn’t an emergency, and you are safe, but it’s night, there is no electricity, and no place to build a fire.
Night is fundamental to our world. It’s just how things are. It’s the primordial soup we all evolved in. So why do we fight the darkness so much? What do we do when the lights go out? Why did we turn them on in the first place?
We are daytime creatures. For the vast majority of us, we rely on our vision for almost everything. Dark makes it harder to do just about anything…except sleep.
What do we do when the metaphoric lights go out? It happens. Night falls. Every. Single. Day. And so, times of uncertainty come to everyone.
The King of Wands is often associated with passion, energy, leadership, fire. When it comes to times of darkness this card often has a “light your own torch” “find your own unique light in the dark” sort of vibe. It can be a very Dylan Thomas “rage against the dying of the light” kind of card.
What if the lights going out is an incredible stroke of luck because we are looking at the wrong thing? What if the darkness comes because you need a good night’s sleep?
Do the best you can with what you have. Of course “it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” Sometimes, when the candle just won’t light for you, maybe it is better to nap until dawn.
Sunrise is as inevitable as dusk.
Just a reminder: In-person readings are once again on hold until community covid transmission rates go back down and we see what happens with this delta variant thing.
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
You must be logged in to post a comment.