In 1971, I spent the summer with my beloved grandmother. She taught me to embroider and we made apple dumplings. That was 50 years ago. I’m older now than she was that year.
In 1991, I picked up my first set of oracle cards, Medicine Cards by Jamie Sams and David Carson (which is still in print, by the way) A couple of years later I graduated to full on Tarot and the rest, as they say, is history. All told, I’ve been working with intuition development and card readings of one kind or another for [checks notes]
THIRTY YEARS!
There isn’t any official certification for Tarot readers. Anybody can do it, and all sorts of people….ethical and not, skilled and not….DO.
I don’t have a diploma to show you what I know or a way to prove that I’m really good at this, but I DO have an ebooklet, three decades and one metric crap ton of been-there-done-that to show you instead.
Out of morbid curiosity, I’ve also been doing some googling. The U.S. national average for a Tarot Session (which often lasts less than an hour) is $40 – $60. So my hour-ish 7 card sessions for $40 are on the low end of that average range – a really good value given the level of experience and expertise I’m bringing to the table.
Not to be self-aggrandizing – but 30 years! Daaayum!
I don’t do sales or giveaways anymore. They are a pain in the backside and I keep my prices as low as possible ALL of the time ANYWAY…but 30 years of card slinging has to count for something.
Until the Fall equinox when my operating costs (paypal and such) are set to go up, I’m making the seven card email readings $30, the same price as 5 card readings….one dollar for each year of card reading experience. I’m not making any promises about what the price will go to after that – I still have to take off my shoes and do some counting. If I get more readings per month and/or support through Ko-Fi for the blog and podcast, I hope I can keep prices the same as last year.
Email readings don’t need an appointment. Order anytime, and your reading lands in your inbox within 24 hours on regular business days, often much less. But you know how it is with nights, weekends and holidays. And you know the drill about policies and disclaimers and all of that.
What I’m trying to say is get a reading now before the prices go up in September. And tell your friends.
And holy hell….30 years!
Website purchases only. Policies and disclaimers apply
NEW! This post is now a Clairvoyant Confessional podcast episode!
“It is like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all the heavenly glory.”
Bruce Lee
public domain
I’m not a collector by nature, but I’m convinced that professional Tarot readers should have multiple Tarot decks and plenty of books about them. Sure it is a good excuse to indulge in something we already love but decks are, after all, the tools of our trade. Mechanics use more than one size of wrench and your phone has more than one app, doesn’t it? Owning multiple decks isn’t only fun, it has practical application.
It’s said that two heads are better than one. More decks are like having more heads. Different decks mean different artwork and different insights from the guide book that typically comes with them. You can draw from all the different decks you’ve used over time to give your client deeper insights regardless of the deck you are using at the time.
Let’s consider the High Priestess card that I drew a few days ago. To paraphrase Edward Waite, the Justice card is a “spiritual mother” who interprets rules and dogma in a more spiritual way. In keeping with Tarot’s roots in the deeply Catholic culture of medieval France and Italy, Waite’s interpretation calls to mind a Saint-like or Mary-like spiritual role for the card.
Contrast that with the Steampunk Tarot by Barbara Moore and Aly Fell. It is one of the decks in my small collection and this is a photo I took of the Justice card used here under the ‘tarot education’ permissions granted on Llwellyn.com
Moore interprets the card as symbolizing something that can only be understood by direct experience. This in turn reminds me of an Instagram post by author Mat Auryn that talks about witchcraft is considered a mystery tradition not because it is a highly guarded secret, but rather because it can only understood through direct wordless experience. Both versions of the card together reminded me of the Bruce Lee quote. Anyone can point to the sky, but only you can experience the beauty of the moon for yourself.
The different cards combined with the quotes that they brought to mind all point toward an important core idea: spirituality is a direct, individual experience rather than external dogma or the product of didactic training. Among many other things, the Justice card reminds us of great mysteries and the way to experience them is directly, for ourselves. Look to the moon, not to pedantic pointer fingers.
This episode is based on the TaoCraft Tarot Blog post by the same name. There is a link to the source post in the episode description. If you have any questions about Tarot, intuition or, well, just about anything please let me know. Questions will be chosen at random or by the Clairvoyant’s caprice to be answered on air, maybe with a tarot reading. Contact information is in the episode description too.
Thank you so much for listening! See you on the print side and see you next time in the Clairvoyant’s Confessional.
I’m a TED talk junkie. Not that I watch a lot. I’m an encouragble multitasker and tend to let TV be audio wallpaper. But not TED talks. Those get my full attention, so I don’t watch them as often as I’d might otherwise.
One of my favorites is by author Elizabeth Gilbert speaking about creativity:
I don’t claim to be a creative genius, but some rare sometimes ideas will drop in that feel like they have been tossed there from from some outside source. It’s different than deliberately doing a reading or listening to intuition on someone else’s behalf. It’s random, unexpected, otherworldly-feeling and worthy of attention. It’s closer to the Tower card than the Four of Swords in that respect. Ideas like that feel especially important when they are sparked by one source but seem to connect to something wildly different. This morning, for example, connected an online article by Christopher Penzack about the symbolism of mountains with the memory of a 1970s TV commercial.
Most of you are probably too young to remember the lifesavers candy commercial where a guy climbs a frozen, isolated mountain to ask the guru on top to define the meaning of life, which of course, is pepp-o-mint lifesavers. It is like the part of Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series where the most advanced super computer Deep Thought calculates the answer to the ultimate meaning to life, the universe and everything is actually 42. There was a snapple commercial with the same sort of trope where a guy goes to a farm, seemingly in remote China, to ask an elderly man how white tea is made…”you find the small young leaves, and you pluck them” … or something like that.
Climbing a mountain or traveling to somewhere remote and exotic is the classic symbol for spiritual growth and development. Both are really hard work. Outside of the comedic and marketing value, there is a real grain of truth to ‘climbing the mountain’ only to find that the mystic guru sitting on top is simple, pragmatic, and just like the rest of us.
Does that mean it wasn’t worth the climb?
No. Not at all.
THAT realization, the understanding that mystical gurus are like us and that we are like mystical gurus is in itself a great treasure. It’s worth the climb to discover the magic in the mundane. It’s worth the climb to realize that you can be your own mystical magical wise guru teacher person.
Green tea and peppermint candies are pretty good things to find too.
Since tomorrow is the solstice, instead of the usual “YouChoose” interactive reading, this is a full year ahead (four seasons, seasons of the year – I STILL dunno what to call this thing. If have any suggestions PLEASE leave a comment. I’m not saying that I’d impulsively give a year ahead reading by email to the person who suggests the best new name, but stranger things have happened.)
Stay tuned to Clairvoyant Confessional podcast. New blog to audio posts will drop this week followed by Confession #6 which talks about doing readings in cyberspace (like this one.)
All are welcome here: A few June thoughts from an lgbtquia ally and recovering fundamentalist
New and improved podcast version of the post by the same name earlier this month.
TRANSCRIPT:
I’m a clairvoyant and I have a confession. I’m proud of you.
I’ve re-written this episode at least two dozen times.
One version even started with an Eleanor Roosevelt quote. Something about doing what’s right because you are going to be criticized anyway.
This sort of thing happens in Tarot. Working with your intuition WILL help you find a better understanding of things, but sometimes it will kick you out of your comfort zone in the process. This particular card reading has been pushing my buttons for days.
Today’s podcast episode is based on a single card, daily meditation reading from the TaoCraft Tarot blog earlier this month. There is a link in the show notes if you want to read my original semi-unhinged rant.
When I drew the Four of Wands card, the words “quirk” and “celebrate” stepped forward immediately. Here, the word quirk carries a very positive energy and points toward anything that makes you unique or is a key part of your individuality.
“Celebrate with pride” is still the top level energy message.
I’m recording this in June. You don’t have to be a psychic to connect “celebrate with pride” to Pride Month.
But there was a secondary message underneath that one. The mental image that came with it reminded me of the ‘river of slime’ in Ghostbusters II.
I recognized the energy immediately from being raised evangelical in the american south, but it’s really hard to describe the FEEL of it. It helps that there have been several reputable news reports about evangelicals because of their overwhelming support for a certain former president.
Based on my experience and what I’ve seen through my family, the news reports are fairly accurate. I searched for a few recent ones and put links in the show description [below] if you want a better sense of the energy. If it seems like I’m picking on Southern Baptists, I am. That’s my parents’ church. White evangelical baptists are what I know first hand. But never mind my background. REAL experts are saying hate crimes are on the rise. I think this part of the card message serves as a reminder to please stay safe and reach out to reasonable people for support if you need it.
Dogma about the word “pride” is one of about nine thousand ninety-nine hundred and eleventy-one reasons why I ran screaming from evangelical religion. They, and others, turn the simple word “pride” into something terrible.
I’m guessing the “pride” they talk about is something of a language artifact. Language shifts and evolves over time, even when some belief systems don’t. Bronze age manuscripts filtered through medieval translations and then bent to contemporary ends equates “pride” to unbridled ego. In a world before psychology, it makes sense that a mental state like that would be described with commonplace words. Words that WE are familiar with, like ego and narcissist didn’t exist back then. “pride goes before a fall” for example. Out of control narcissism can lead to poor choices and bad stuff happening.
In any case, it’s a shame that newer, healthier connotations for the word pride are sometimes haunted by old, derogatory ones.
Looking at the card, I was reminded of being a kid and hearing all of the adults quietly supporting Anita Bryant, the loudly anti-gay peanutbutter lady from the 1970s. This part of the message reminded me of how evangelicals STILL feel about pride month and all of the bigotry, racism and overt homophobia that was the number one reason why I quit that religion so long ago.
Did you ever notice how evangelical preachers have a tendency to yell during their sermons?
Imagine.
Imagine how it would feel as a teenager to hear them literally raise their voices against quote/unquote “the homosexuals.” It was heartbreaking for me to hear it when I had – and still have – good friends in the lgbtqia community.
Imagine.
Now, imagine what that experience would be like if you were young and IN the community.
The Four of Wands is about public cultural celebrations. The Four of Wands is about lifting each other up.
Authenticity is something to celebrate. People living their truest lives is a profoundly happy thing.
A lack of self esteem can make us more prone to prejudice. Studies are starting to show that putting other people down really is a self esteem boost for some people.
On the other hand, self acceptance is jet fuel for empathy. Self confidence makes compassion for other people so much easier. Compassion for other people supports their self esteem which in turn seeds more compassion and so on and so on. Pride not only ISN’T a sin, it arguably can make the world a better place.
Pride month is a lesson for all of us. It’s hard to hate other people when you make peace with your TRUE self first.
Those of us with privilege are exponentially more responsible to protect and celebrate and uplift Pride Month. I used to think that my experience of leaving evangelical religion and coming out atheist gave me a tiny glimpse into what it is like for the lgbtqia community on both sides of the closet door.
But no. Just, no.
As an ally, pride month doesn’t have anything to do with me. For an ally, Pride Month is about being proud of other people. It’s about being proud OF people I care about.
Whatever your situation, if you are living a kind and authentic life – I’m proud of you.
Celebrate who you are. Celebrate everyone. Just be careful that the celebratory kind of pride doesn’t slip into the ego kind of pride. The supportive kind of pride is something for every month, not just corporate advertising during the month of June.
I post rainbows and celebrate WITH you this month because I’m proud OF you and proud of who YOU are.
All are welcome here.
This episode is dedicated to a still-quiet loved one and the memory of Roger Harmon, florist, businessman, and one of my first and best friends south of the mason dixon line.
Thanks for listening. I’ll see you on the print side and I’ll see you next time in the clairvoyant’s confessional.
Some days, the cards are breathtakingly elegant in their utter simplicity.
I turned on some of my favorite music from Yogetsu Akasaka because of the energy and headspace this card evokes. It’s so simple. So beautiful – both the music and the card’s energy. It’s like the empty circle of the enso, or the legendary wordless sermon of Buddha when he simply held up a lotus, or the nameless Tao.
It isn’t the typical energy you see with swords, or pages for that matter, but it’s kind of perfect, as Obi Wan said, from a certain point of view. Instead of European style knights, armour and sword fights, think of today’s page of swords as being a Samaurai, or a Shaolin Monk in training. Yes, martial skill is a big part of it, but they are also taught mental and spiritual disciplines as well.
The idea is that we need to take refuge in something. At least every now and then. It’s stress management 101. Everyone needs a rest, a safe place where they can be at ease for some measure of time.
Page cards have to do with learning. In this case it is more about remembering. Taking time to find a little refuge is natural, instinctual, innate. Even the old testament folks figured that out with their weekly day of rest. These days, it is a matter of remembering to meet that basic need. The body needs rest, we all know that. Mind and spirit need it too. That is the simple message the card brings with a single word: Refuge.
Buddhists talk about “taking refuge in the dharma.” Buddhist philosophy may not be the thing that gives you a mental break and an emotional safe place – but something does.
Whatever that is for you – today’s card reminds us to find it – use it.
We can all use a little refuge.
Please support artists and musicians whose work gives you a few minutes of mental sanctuary.
If you are serious about living an enriched life and being a better person, then stepping outside of your comfort zone – even for a moment – is inevitable. That happens a lot in Tarot. The cards will nudge you toward a better path even if that means kicking you entirely out of your comfort zone in the process. This post might be one of those moments. It is for me. Today’s card uncomfortably pokes at some old issues, but imma just say what intuition gives anyway. This post is a little sweary and political. If you are not up for that, no worries, just skip it and come back for the next post. I’ll be back to my usual religion and politics avoidance policy by then.
Evangelical dogma and connotations around the word pride is reason nine thousand ninety-nine hundred and eleventy-one why I ran screaming from my family’s religion.
I was raised in the American evangelical subculture by the church deacon and Sunday school teacher who helped found the town’s first Southern Baptist affiliated church. (Yeah, THOSE Southern Baptists in the WaPo article) That kind of thinking turns the innocent word “pride” into something wrong and guilt-riddled. They turn pride into a sin (as do Catholics, so I’m told.)
If being happy with who I really am while proudly celebrating the authentic selves of the people I love is a sin, then hail Satan and pass the asbestos underwear! See you in hell, frens!
It’s a stretch, but I’m guessing the “pride” they are talking about is maybe a language artifact. Language shifts and evolves over time, even when fundamentalists don’t. Bronze age manuscripts filtered through medieval translations and bent to contemporary evangelical ends frames their version of “pride” as being unbridled ego. It makes sense that, in a world before psychology, a mental state like that would be attributed to a more common word like pride. If you define it in those terms “pride goes before a fall” isn’t wrong. Out of control narcissism leads to poor choices and risky behavior (like, for example, the former president who was supported by 80% of white evangelicals according to NPR)
Whatever the reason, it is still a shame that the newer, healthier connotations of the word pride is often haunted by these older, negative, derogatory undertones.
It’s June, so it’s not psychic or paranormal for my thoughts turn to Pride Month.
With the Four of Wands today, the words “quirk” and “celebrate” step forward. “Quirk” is the name for superpowers in the anime My Hero Academia that we’ve been watching lately. Superpower or not, socially acceptable or not, “quirk” here means anything that makes you unique and is a key part of your individual, authentic self. “Celebrate with pride” comes strongly to mind.
This is where it gets uncomfortable. I am reminded of reason number 1 why I ran screaming from the evangelicals: bigotry. Rampant, pervasive, intractable bigotry including overt homophobia. Not every single individual certainly, but the words that pour from those they collectively elevate to their pulpits speaks for everyone in a congregation. Loudly.
The ministers are literally in front of and above everyone else when they speak. Imagine the heartbreak as a teenager when they would nearly yell bigoted bullshit about “the homosexuals” when I had friends in the community who where some of the kindest most compassionate, open, inclusive loving people I’ve met to this day.
The Four of Wands is about community celebration. It is about lifting others up.
And it can be about embracing those who were rejected by their birth families because of who they authentically are. I love those “I’m your mom / dad now” memes supporting lgbtqia kids who are rejected by their own families. Anybody the evangelicals reject is prolly my kind kind of people.
The Four of Wands is about celebration. Authenticity is something to celebrate. People living their truest life is a profoundly happy thing. A lack of self esteem can make us more prone to bias or worse (a 2011 article on psychologialscience.org is one quick example) Confidence is fuel for compassion. Pride in ourselves breeds compassion for others which leads to pride in those around us which creates acceptance which seeds even more self esteem and so it goes. Pride not only isn’t a sin, it arguably makes the world a better place.
Pride month is a lesson for all of us. It is hard to hate others when you are comfortable with yourself. Those of us with privilege are exponentially more responsible to protect and celebrate and uplift Pride Month.
I used to think that my experience of leaving evangelical religion and coming out as a tarot reading, science loving, Taoist, atheist and witch gave me a teeny tiny partial keyhole glimpse into what it is like for the lgbtqia+ community on both sides of the closet door.
If there is anything at all I’ve learned from Pride month about being a good ally, it’s that being an ally doesn’t have any fucking thing to do with me. Pride month for an ally is about being proud of other people – proud of the people we care about.
If you are living an authentic and kind life – I am proud of you.
Celebrate who you authentically are. Celebrate everyone else’s authentic self too. But don’t let the celebratory pride slip into the self-centered pride. Pride and a safe and welcoming place is something for every month, not just big business June advertising. Although I kinda like all the rainbow tshirts. And the one big burger place donating a portion of their chicken sandwich profits (including Sunday sales) to a lgbtqia+ organization to troll the anti-equality uber christians that run that other chicken place. I’m all the way down with that particular cororporate move.
I celebrate with you because I’m proud of you and who you really are.
Over the past few years, between the pandemic and weird schedules, our family has become world champion at-home staycationers. I’m not complaining. I like it because it usually is a good excuse to treat ourselves to our favorite local restaurants, but that’s another story.
Believe it or not, I have a doctorate degree that relates to this. Not a doctor of vacationing. I have an online remote study Ph.D. in Natural Health from back in the day before online colleges were a common thing. Move over Doctor Doofenshmirtz. Summer hiatus is a good time to put that information into actual practice and take the time to tinker with new things. Call it experimental research.
Genuinely natural alternatives (as opposed to unregulated marketing claims of “natual”) are just as effective as their mainstream counterparts, but they are also more time intensive. Natural things work, but they takes more time and effort than most of us are willing to put into them – myself included.
This year’s experiment might be my new pinnacle of whacky in my alternative tinkering – at least so far. Being middle aged and freshouttafucks, I’m usually not much for hair and beauty stuff. I am, however, getting ruthless about cutting our single use plastic consumption and using more eco-friendly products in general.
I don’t totally like my natural hair color and inherited a forehead adjacent early gray patch a la Bride of Frankenstein, thus Miss Clairol and I have been friends for a loooong time. But it is time for a change because chemicals, plastic, and thinning old lady hair. Enter plant based hair color. No more little non-recyclable plastic bottles and no more slap you in the nose chemical smells. With plant powders, the little plastic bottles are replaced with a bowl from the kitchen (or washed up from last night’s take out.) The eye watering smell (or the gag inducing froofroo fragrance they add to try and cover it up) is replaced by – you guessed it – the smell of plants. Think mowing the lawn or a day in the garden. Or, in this case, freshly mown hay on a sunny day with a giant pot of creamed spinach dumped on top.
This particular plant, cassia obovata, or “neutral henna” as it is marketed, comes from the Ayurvedic tradition and is actually healthy for hair and scalp. It’s been used for centuries for dandruff and the like. Lots of plants have dyes in them. That’s where dyes for cloth and inks originally came from, not chemicals. Thankfully the old recipes and what-plant-makes-what-color knowledge is still around. It is a day long project, but I wanted to give the old school plant based hair color a try.
It’s true that cassia is mainly a conditioner and won’t touch the color of darker hair. Not. One. Bit. I was genuinely surprised that it did anything for my lighter hair, but it really does end up with a nice, warm toned golden blonde, including the grays. Another tidbit I had read proved true…pure cassia obovata is not a good choice for anyone who wants or needs cool or neutral blonde tones. I actually dig the end color because I was aiming for warm tones. I’ve been paying for warm tones for years. This ended up being about the same price as a decent box color at Walmart or something. Certainly it costs WAY less than a salon visit.
The other thing that proved true: it’s volumizing. The old-lady thin texture is normal again. I’ve read that cassia can relax curl, and that adding amla (Indian gooseberry) power does two things: It preserves the curl plus provids the acid that releases the dye molecules from the cassia. If you don’t use amla in the mix, add a splash of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. I don’t think it takes much acid, but as I understand the chemistry, it is necessary. I used amla 15 gms to 50 gms of cassia powder. I also added a splash of aloe, which was suggested to enhance the conditioning effect.
For this project I used 100% pure Cassia Obovata powder (if you use lawsonia aka true henna, indigo aka black henna or anything combination other than pure cassia, it’s a whole different kettle of hair goo. Do your research!! ) Pure cassia is the only way to get the color I was aiming for, so I didn’t really research the other stuff.
To start, measure & mix the powder(s) in your chosen bowl. Add hot water and and about a Tbs of aloe until it is the consistency of pancake batter or a runny yogurt. Let the now brown & disturbingly baby poop looking mixture sit for 4 hours. Yes, hours. This is natural and plastic-free (the powders came in foil pouches) not modern and convenient. You don’t have to stand there and watch it. Just mix it and leave it. If it goes longer, no worries. For a dye effect and not just conditioning, word is that you have to use it within a 4 – 12 hour window after adding the water. Beyond that, and it supposedly works as conditioner but the dye degrades so much it isn’t useful even on light hair.
When it comes time to apply the poopgoo you might want gloves, or you might not. Lawsonnia, the real-deal red hair henna is also used for mehndi, the temporary (and gorgeous!) skin art that originated in India and will obviously stain. But like I said, this is about a pure cassia conditioner / gold-blonde spinach smelling poopgoo hair color experiment. I didn’t have any problem with staining at all.
I coated my hair with this deeply weird muddy stuff, covered it with a shower cap, wrapped that in a towel, and warmed the whole thing with the hair dryer.
Did I mention it felt deeply weird, like mud-clay wrapped in plastic wrapped in a towel, part ceramics class, part Laura Palmer Twin Peaks reference?
I tooled around the house with the spinach smelling poopgoo contraption for four hours. Yes, hours. I didn’t want to do much wearing a big wobbly towel turban, so instead I spent some quality time with my knitting needles and a copy of Matt Auryn’s excellent book, Psychic Witch. The final step is to rinse out the drying-clay-feeling abstract sculpture on my head with warm water and no shampoo, followed by air-drying. For the first evening, it felt like hair that had been caked in mud, but look at the mirror! Good color and better gray coverage than the store bought semi-permanent color. This is temporary too, which is why I was expecting the big fat nothing I’d gotten before from another instinctively “natural” store brand I’d tried in the past. By the next day, the recently caked-in-mud feeling was gone with soft and volumeized texture left in its place.
And look! Color! It worked! Cassia obovata spooged out its crysophanic acid and coated my gnarly looking Lily Munster streak with pretty blonde-ness. This poopgoo is the real deal!
via Giphy.com
Kitten Whiskers is a series of posts about some of my favorite things, even if they are a little off-topic. I hope they spark a little delight for you the way they have for me.
Back to regular hours! Email readings are available to order 24/7 no appointment needed. Usually you will get a response within 12 – 24 hours. Phone/zoom/google meet/ skype live distance readings by appointment, details HERE
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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