Tag: pittsburgh tarot reader

Duly Noted

“Growing Ogres” was a challenging post to write. You can tell because it’s long. Einstein was right – “If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.”

There are three basic layers to talking about layers in Tarot: easy, hard and hot mess.

Reading for yourself is easy. I can teach you to interact with the cards by yourself for yourself in no time. In a short ebook in fact. You can order it HERE. And yes, I’m still working on a second edition. We’re gonna need it when this whole pandemic thing is over. Adjusting is hard. Adjusting BACK is hard too.

Reading for other people is hard. Interacting with the cards, plus the intuitive messages from energy/spirit plus communicating that message effectively to the client, plus business ethics plus ethics ethics…professional Tarot reading has several layers of complexity and levels of difficulty above grabbing your favorite deck for a little guidance every now and then.

Describing my side of the table and the inner workings of intuitive readings is wildly complicated because it requires taking a reader right up to the edge of silent mysteries and individual experiences. Trying to put the wordless into words can turn into a hot mess in a heartbeat. Or, in the words of Lau Tzu, “The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao.”

All I really needed to say was the combination of video and text wasn’t working out the way I’d hoped, so I’m changing it back.

I’ll circle back to personal growth, evolution, authenticity, inner growing new layers, shedding old ones and all of that stuff another time. Meanwhile, if you have any feedback about the tweek in the layout names or the audio/visual combo experiment, I’d love to hear it.

If you are interested in the video & text combination, check out the “Today’s Tarot” posts and the weekly “YouChoose Interactive Tarot” posts.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”

Jeff Rich

Growing Ogres

Shrek: ….ogres are like onions

Donkey: They stink?

….

Shrek: No! Layers. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. You get it? We both have layers

from “Shrek” copyright 2001 Dreamworks Pictures, quote via imdb.com

Layers mean complexity. Layers apply to all sorts of things that are actually more complex than they seem at first glance; ogres, onions, cakes and – you guessed it – Tarot.

Reading Tarot for yourself is actually quite simple. In a couple of hours I could teach you to do good DIY readings for yourself. (Related: PeaceTarot ebook)

Reading for other people is another story. High level professional readings are, like onions and ogres, more complex than it seems on the surface. That’s the whole point of them. A professional reading can gives you extra layers of insight and experience that you can’t get alone. Two heads are better than one. Two eyes give depth perception (related post: parallax) The two of us working together gives your reading another layer of understanding.

Sometimes layers talk about authenticity. Sometimes you have to peel back a few layers to get to the real heart of the matter. We’ve talked about authenticity and public Tarot practice before, after my Modern Oracle Tarot work was re-branded to TaoCraft Tarot (related: what’s in a name, Shakespear’s Roses, Spell Your Name)

That’s all well and good, but consider another aspect of layers: growing new ones. Interestingly, actual onions grow on the inside. New layers are added at the core while older outside layers get dry and thin and ultimately fall away. In this, onions give us another useful metaphor.

In the medical field, and no doubt many other professions, continuing education is a condition of licensure and employment. You have to keep learning and keep current if you want to keep working. Whether it is required or not, whether it is career related or not, lifelong learning is a respected mark of excellence. Learning isn’t just formal education. Learning comes from experience and experimentation and the living of life. Artists’ work evolves over time. Any person’s point of view can evolve over time.

And so, the “Modern Oracle” layout is evolving. I’m calling abort on the video / text hybrid format. It was an experiment that failed, and I’ve learned something important from it.

Remember how deeper layers are often perceived as more authentic and how old layers of growing onions turn papery and fall off? It’s time for the 5 and 7 card Modern Oracle layouts to evolve, to become more authentic, to show more of their inner complexity. The video hybrid isn’t the way for that to happen. The names of layout card positions are changing. It’s a tiny detail that you may not even notice from your side of the Tarot table. On my side of the table it is important shift in mindset. This allows me to fully and authentically follow what intuition and spirit shows me.

I wrote the initial layout meanings to create a bridge from old fashioned, predict-the-future, fortune telling layouts to a more modern advice, guidance and empowerment reading. I wrote the Modern Oracle layouts specifically to show the power of your choices over your future. Cards that once were called “past, present and future” in the old style became “lessons from the past, current situation, and moving forward.” Predicting the future evolved into making an action plan.

Now it will go one step further. I in my minds’s eye, I see a reading in terms of dynamic energy flows, not a concrete road through time. As Modern Oracle layouts become TaoCraft layouts, we will let go of time and predictions entirely. If the Modern Oracle layout was like GPS map for your path ahead, the TaoCraft layout is like a GPS traffic update with a weather report.

Card 1, lessons from the past, will become Fading Energies, symbolizing energies that are moving away from you. These are things that need less of your attention.

Card 2, current situation, will become Current Energies, the energies that are strongest, and deal with things that need your attention in this moment.

Card 3, moving forward will become Growing Energies, energies moving toward you, or gaining influence in the path you’ve currently chosen. It still isn’t predictive. It is still intended to guide you, help you prepare for possible conditions ahead. Think of it like a weather report. It doesn’t tell you exactly what will happen to you during your day, but it can give you the chance of rain or sun while it happens.

Card 4 will remain Choices. It is still placed under the current energies card and at the center of the layout because that is still the place of power. Empowering your choices is still the heart of the reading. The choices card will take on a more advisory tone than before. Instead of suggesting how to persist or how change your path, it focuses on whether changing or whether staying the course is the wisest thing to do.

Card 5 is still Alternative Path just like before, showing the most open alternative path you if you decide a change is needed. (Or it can help keep you on your path if you like the way things are headed.)

Card 6 Helping Energies and card 7 Potential Challenges are the same as always, and speak to exactly what the name implies.

Long story short, if you are dead set on a specific “accurate” prediction, you aren’t going to like the new TaoCraft layouts. If that’s the case, you need the Zombie Cat yes/no readings like we did the other day. Even then, you have to realize it isn’t 100%.

If you are ready for next level, dynamic energy readings, I can help. Welcome to TaoCraft Tarot.

,

Q&A: Change or Persist?

yes or no career tarot reading with behind the scenes explanation

Yes or no questions seem predictive: Will X happen, yes or no?

Yes/no readings are a fun to play with. I could sit here, play Zombie Cat* and make predictions all day just as long as everyone realizes that it is all really coin-toss random-ass probabilities and not really a serious “prediction.”

Yes/no Tarot readings can be much more than a magic black ball entertainment prediction. They can give legit, genuinely helpful, short term guidance. It is all a matter of focus and application.

Tarot’s greatest value is overarching, big-picture, life path guidance. It is all about spiritual enrichment, spiritual expression, personal cultivation….you know – generally trying to be a better person and live a good life. Tarot readings, especially the bigger 3, 5 and 7 card layouts, are all about understanding the current situation, making better choices and moving ahead in the best way possible. Big readings are like GPS directions to where you ultimately want to go.

Instead of long term GPS, a yes/no reading is like a single sonar ping of any given moment. It gives a very helpful, but short term, close range nudge in the right direction when you are choosing between two seemingly equal things or want a quick follow up to a previous big reading. Yes/no readings help you deal with right here and right now, but not much else.

Today’s question is a little bit of both. It is one of those all-else-equal things, and also follows up a longer reading from a few weeks ago. It is about a fine tuning a current solo project, nothing to do with long term plans or that would affect other people. Considering all of that, a yes/no reading is ideal for this question.

Q: Should I switch _____ back to _____ or should I continue as it is?

Ok, to start with, a yes-or-no layout can’t answer a this-or-that question. I don’t mean for that to sound harsh. I get it. It is hard to distill things down to a yes-or-no question when you have all sorts of options and resources and different possibilities all swirling around in your head. If you could focus things down to a clear yes or no question, chances are you wouldn’t need a Tarot reading to help make up your mind.

In the early days of my professional practice, I would ask the questioner/sitter to rephrase the question, thinking that it was important for them to put the question into yes/no format in order to properly connect to their spirit message. Learning from experience, I don’t do it that way anymore. They’ve got enough on their mind. That’s why they are here. I convert the question into yes/no format and then proceed with their consent.

Today’s question has two main components; changing and continuing, which begs the question of which part do you ask yes or no about?

After all these years of experience, I’m totally comfortable with just following intuition, and focusing on the component part that seems to carry the greatest energy signature….in other words, which part seems to step forward to carry the weight of the question. If you are reading for yourself I suggest doing the same. If you don’t feel comfortable with shoot from the hip pure intuition, there are lots of different randomizing strategies you could use to help you pick between “Should I change yes or no?” and “Should I persist, yes or no?”

In a two option question like this one, it really doesn’t matter which you choose. A no on one automatically gives you a yes on the other and vice versa. If it is a multiple componant question, things get a lot more complicated. You could do a series of yes/no readings on each of the components, but that gets muddy, convoluted, contradictory and very confusing super fast.

Don’t.

Trust me, just don’t. Write down the components and pick them out of a hat. Triage, and take the most time critical piece first. Do eenie meenie miny moe….anything. Just don’t do strings of of yes/no readings in a row. If the question is too complex, either use a larger, more nuanced layout OR simplify the question and focus on one key part.

The process of dealing into 3 stacks until you either get an to an ace or to 13 cards (whichever comes first) is an old, common knowledge, nobody knows where it came Tarot reading. I like to take it one step further and interpret the final three cards together as if they were a pathway reading in order to get more guidance from the whole process than just a yes or no answer alone.

If that seems like a big, complicated, pain in the ass process to get a good result from a simple yes-or-no question…it is. If you don’t want to yes/no read for yourself, please, order a yes/no reading from me. It’s affordable and I could sort the whole thing out in half the time it took me to explain it all just now.

New Q: Should I change?

A: Maybe but lean yes. Probably yes, actually.

The Fool card speaks to the fresh start and a new infusion of energy and enthusiasm that the new direction would bring to the project. Being a major arcana card, the Fool lends an extra push in the “yes” direction.

The Ace of Swords speaks to the creative and intellectual energy a change could bring. There is a very upward, uplifting quality to the energy.

Of course, seeing the Ace of Pentacles is always a good sigh in any kind of work or career related reading, even a quick yes/no like this one.

All things considered, this hints that making the change in the project is a good idea. Intuitively I feel very positive about it. My attention is drawn to the gold color on the Pentacles card. It isn’t so much about the precious metal as it is the color psychology and the resonance with the solar plexus chakra which in turn has to do with confidence and optimism and personal power. Wear gold or gold tone jewelry if you can. Pyrite or Tiger Eye are also good crystal energies here. It feels temporary…not a long term alliance between you and the tiger eye, however. Again the gold tone feels like a better fit. Grounding, centering woody scents seem important, like sandalwood in particular comes to mind. Pretty standard kinds of recommendations. After a time, I get the sense the tiger eye energy will drift back to the light blue and blue lace agate for communication that we talked about before, but for now the sun / yang energy and warmth of the brown and gold feels more forward.

Thanks again for your permission to do your reading as an example. I’m pulling for you and hope this works out really well, especially for a financial and name recognition boost.

Best Wishes – Ronda

*AZCA is still a thing . You can ask Zombie Cat Anything for free. Use the contact form HERE to ask anything, even for a prediction. Your answer will come in a redacted-for-privacy blog post (like this one, but without the video.) All Zombie Cat answers are for entertainment only, 100% guaranteed to contain words, and have a 50% chance of being dead wrong.

Today’s Tarot: All in this together

Whenever I do readings, in the middle portion when we are going through the layout card-by-card, each card gives a different type or category or spin or ‘flavor’ of message. Some are advice (something to think about doing) others are cautions (something to think about avoiding) but they can also be validations & acknowledgements.

Today, the three of pentacles has elements of all of these. To me it looks like a tie-dye wavy gravy swirl of it all, which isn’t uncommon when you are doing a general audience, blog type reading.

As an aside, that’s probably why you see so many of those “I don’t know who needs to hear this but….” posts on social media. I stop reading the minute I see that, an more often choke back the urge to block them. It strikes me as arrogant and not an energy I want in my cyberspace. Of course you don’t know who needs to hear something. It could be that nobody needs to hear what you have to say. If you need to know that someone needs your advice, you aren’t in a good headspace to be giving advice. Just say it. Own it. Give the advice with no “need it” strings attached on either the giving or receiving end. Trust the universe to get the right message to the right person at the right time. If it is right for them, people will know and take it to heart. If it isn’t they’ll just keep scrolling.

Now back to the three of pentacles –

The caution thread here is to “watch out for falling down.” That can be construed two ways. One is to take care to do your part of a team effort. It feels like you’ll be called on it if you do and bad feelings could happen. It’s not talking about something accidental or truly inadvertent. It feels more like an act of anger, frustration, or deliberate negligence. Take care keep things in proper priority and try not to drop the ball when others rely on you if you can help it. It is also a caution against being a doormat in a team situation. Clearly communicated expectations feel important to any team situation today.

Validation feels like someone who has been a real mensch through it all. This feels like a validation and a thank you for all the times you have gone over and above the call of duty for the good of a team, of a project or generally in service to others. Logically, given the world situation, there are lots of you out there for whom this applies. Well done and profound thank yous.

The validation, interestingly enough, was for me. When you read for other people be on the lookout for messages for you that piggyback in on their message. That way you GET your intended message and you don’t accidentally muddle your message and theirs together. The validation here has to do with clairaudience. Music that you are not in the mood for is a nice validation. Music that is not to your taste is a good hint that it is genuinely from intuition and not just a random something you heard recently. I am NOT in the mood for a chipper little Disney tune, but seeing this card definitively brought through “We’re all in this together” from a movie my daughter used to like. High School Musical or something like that? I dunno.

As cute and happy and positive as the song might be, it IS right. We are all in this together. It is ok to expect others to do their part. It is important to set clear expectations as well as to do your part. Don’t drop the ball but don’t be a doormat. Ask for help. Delegate tasks. And if a bright chipper song comes at your intuition way too early in the morning, pay attention. Then go get that second cup of coffee and try to find a better earworm.

Here is a playlist for you if you are in the mood for something with a little more spark to it. I’ll leave it to you to get your musical on. Now, where’s that coffee?

https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/4FGxubTJ6EIgGJrgDh3Ctd

Want a reading that is all for you and not a blog post written for planet earth? The NEW Distance Tarot format combines both print and video for an enriched Tarot experienced close to an in-person session but with the affordability and convenience of email. Order yours HERE.

Something new has hatched for you

Happy Spring equinox!

I’m happy to announce a NEW format for all email readings on the TaoCraft Tarot website (Etsy shop readings are unchanged)

Now you get a video introduction with every reading. Not just text and a photo, not just a lengthy video file to download. You get the best of both worlds in one private document because…

Vox humana

There is something special about a human voice. That includes real people voices not just YouTube or professional media voices. It’s a human touch that that technology still can’t quite replicate.

We all respond to the human voice one way or another, but we all learn from voices differently. Language touches our hearts and lives in our brains in individual ways. Some, like me, are bookworms. I love to read, I learn from books easily and I write very well. It’s my thing. Other people are audiophiles. I have multiple family members who learn and engage with ideas magnitudes better when it comes to them through the spoken word. Audiobooks and podcasts are invaluable to them. Still others need an immersive experience that uses both seeing, hearing and hands-on interaction.

That’s why I’m introducing a unique kind of distance Tarot reading that combines audio, video AND text to provide an enriched distance Tarot experience that works for all kinds of people.

With the new TaoCraft Tarot distance readings, you get the no-appointment-needed convenience of email but also a taste of the immersive in-person experience.

All at the same price as before. LIVE phone readings are still available and the same as always. I hope you’ll try a session.

There is more to come. I have other plans, and will be re-doing “The Big Explainer” behind-the-scenes peek at card layouts on the YouTube channel as I hone some some video & presentation skills. (ie fuck it I’m reading from a script) and putting some examples here on the blog. I’d LOVE it if one of you would send me a questions (or permission for an open reading) that I could answer in the blog for you (no names or identifying information, of course. You’d know who you are. Use the comments, because I moderate them and wouldn’t make that one public OR just email me at TaoCraftTarot@gmail.com)

But welcome to spring, a little change and a seed planted with the intention that it brings happiness and prosperity to all.

Flow and perspective

You can’t go with the flow until you get in the boat.

But then where are you going to go, and why?

Whenever I cite a Tarot deck, I always, always, always cite the artist no matter who wrote the book that goes with it. The book is nice, it gives the particular spin to match the particular deck for each card, but the art is where the real utility of a deck comes in. After all, there is nothing inherently special about Tarot cards, oracle decks, runes, tea leaves, I Ching coins and the like. They are all tools, gateways that help us access our normal, natural, innate intuition. They are the microphone, not the ear. They are the telescope, not the eye. Just as these things were brilliant, world-changing innovations in enhancing physical senses, putting detailed artwork on pip cards was equally revolutionary in the world of Tarot.

You can do intuitive readings just fine with the game-playing deck and no artwork at all. Like all oracles, the pip decks and gaming deck are just a tool to help access intuition. They are just a bit less sophisticated of a tool. Pip cards are a fine enough set of screwdrivers, but a fully illustrated Tarot deck is a set of watchmaker’s tools by comparison. The artwork raises the utility and versatility of the deck exponentially.

Today’s card is an example.

The deck resource books from Edward Waite talks about travel on water. Ellen Dugan talks about “smooth sailing ahead.” Diane Morgan talks about “yielding.” I’ve written here about perspective. All of these things, although different, are perfectly valid in the time and the background energy context of the time that the card interpretation was done. The human brain is a brilliant information filter and triage device. Attention is a real and very valuable psychic tool. Pay attention to something when it captures your attention. This is precisely how the artwork expands our Tarot understanding so dramatically. In the previous six of swords post, perspective and point of view stepped forward as a message after drawing attention to the swords stuck in the canoe. Today, my attention is much more strongly drawn to the image of the water, which in turn connects to the idea of flow, going with the flow, and the “yielding” that others have seen.

A full intuitive message often comes as a daisy-chain of ideas or a line of falling dominoes. Connect these ideas with the ideas from the Lovers card yesterday: goals, drive, desire and achievement from yesterday.

Put it all together, and we get to a point of balanced energy that I’ve seen be a bit out of balance lately. There needs to be balance between goals, achievement and progress toward a defined end point and the flow of life, of experience, of mindfulness of the present moment, of simple being.

We need both direction and mindfulness. Desires can both guide and frustrate, motivate and imprison. It is a balance of experience vs aspiration. It is a diet vs a lifestyle. My sense is we need more mindfulness and attention to the present moment. As we vaccinate and all too many people abandon mitigation too early we need to stop fixating on when we “get back to normal” and stay in the flow of the moment or else we may sink the boat.

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Tao Te Ching

YouChoose Interactive Tarot

This is one of those times, where the video actually seems to get to most of the message. The theme, it seems is “pay attention.” Interestingly, the theme touches a little bit on mind, body and spirit.

As always, stop, rest a moment. Let your self set aside work or whatever has been on your mind for a moment. It will all still be there when you are done reading this. It is OK to be here, now, looking at the screen. Take a breath, pick a card, think about something different for a moment. Pick a card. If you want a few more nice, quiet moments, pause the video. Stare at the screen, let people think you are doing something important (you are – you are paying attention to your intuition and inner world for a moment) When you are ready, restart the video to see the reveal. Read more about your card below.

Four of Cups: Pay attention to other people. It is easy to get wrapped up in our thoughts and live inside of our own heads. You don’t always have to have answers or know the right thing to say. Sometimes platitudes and easy advice is the worst thing to hear. Presence, being with a person, being with the moment is the best thing of all. In a way this resonates with obsidian as a protector, because you are championing the person you share your mindful presence with.

The High Priestess: Pay attention to the subtle things. Spirit speaks in whispers. Hints and signs and omens are there. There are some who believe these things are a reflection of ourselves. The world around us reflects our innate wisdom back to us in forms that we are able to accept and understand be that cards or stars or tea leaves or simple coincidence. If it seems meaningful, it is. This resonates well with the amethyst as it is associated with the crown chakra and spirituality.

King of Swords: Think. Pay attention to what needs done but also when to hold back. Waiting, watching, understanding ARE actions. Deciding to move ahead…and deciding not to decide until later…are both decisions, both leadership actions. Whatever the choices may be this week, whether you choose to act or to not act, it is the deliberate mindful choosing that matters as much as the chosen path itself. Rhodochrosite is connected to the heart chakra. Making decisions and taking action ….especially when that action is to wait or decide later… takes heart, takes courage.

Cardless: Thoughts on an anniversary

What a year.

Perception of time is so fluid and so individual it’s no wonder humans created clocks and calendars just so we can navigate our way through the tine drop of time we are given for our lifetimes. If nothing else, the year of the pandemic has taught us that. After all it’s been blursday the 363rd of Marchish for about three years now, hasn’t it?

Let’s set the cards aside for a moment. I have an interesting intuition flexing exercise for you: Look back over the past year since the global Covid-19 pandemic was declared, but look at it exclusively through the lens of intuition. What were your intangible, intuitive perceptions over the course of that time? When and how did you become aware of them? What did life look like intuitively to you in January 2020? March 2020? Summer solstice? Fall equinox? At the American election? The holidays? January 2021? How did the intuitive feelings connect to actual events as they unfolded? Did you learn anything about your intuitive perceptions in the empathic pressure cooker that was 2020? Seriously, I’m interested in your meta-assessment of your intuition this past year (stay private – you don’t have to share details) The comments are open if you’d like to add your two cents to the topic today.

I live in the eastern United States. The cultural zeitgeist energies and emotions were so strong last year that looking back at the intuitive landscape has a certain tangible quality, almost like the memory of actual events. In my mind’s eye, I can still see the mental images of a U.S. map with little black tornado shapes spinning and wiggling and moving around all over the map. I remember the image of the ocean with a hurricane on the horizon. I remember a shimmering iridescent soap bubble or force field whenever setting empathic boundaries came into the conversation. I remember the image of survivors peeking out of storm wreckage. I remember the map again with the little tornadoes fading to grey.

Part of me wants to take pride in how well the images matched the events that unfolded after – I’d call the insurrection riot a hurricane among many, metaphorically speaking. It feeds into the cassandra complex my ego has brewing. Actually, it was just a clear-eyed view of energies that were current at the time of the mental image. It was in no way prophetic or predictive, just as Tarot and intuition always is. It helped me to do good readings for clients. It helped me know when to feed the spiritual side of life and when to stick to my knitting (literally) and take care of practical things. Sensitivity to energy helped me to ease up on the spiritual stuff (especially when it was getting way too judge-y and taking on a fearful edge) That is exactly what Tarot and intuition is supposed to do both in ‘normal’ times and times of extreme duress. It gives a read of where we are and suggests a better way forward. Tarot and intuition didn’t predict a damn thing in any of this. Still, intuition worked. We all have it. You can use it too. All you have to do is take the lid off and give your ESP a little bit of TLC. (Of course, me and my ego are happy to help you in that process)

If it is any consolation, though, the image today is a clear map and the wreckage is gone. My attention is drawn to the physical (perhaps another aspect of all the coins/pentacle cards that have turned up during the past year) There have been storms and fires and floods and accidents the same as any other year. Those literal changes and disasters increase the pandemic disaster exponentially for those who experience those losses too. The change is even more heartbreaking and profound for those who have lost loved ones. The fortunate rest of us, whose closest loved ones and physical environment is as intact and unchanged as it would be after any other year can take consolation in that. Look out the window. For the vast majority of us, the streets and houses are all the same as last year. What we DO and how we do things has changed quite a lot. Sure, there are plastic shields and hand sanitizer dispensers in the stores, but for most of us all of the physical infrastructure of our lives has been left untouched by the pandemic year.

I have another suggestion for today. Find something familiar. Any tangible thing that is the same as it was in the before time. A place. A park. Your home. Your backyard. An article of clothing. A favorite song. A coffee mug. Anything. Drink in the familiarity. Ground and center yourself around that. Life, attitudes, energies – many things have irrevocably changed in the past year. Soak up some comfort and courage from the stuff that hasn’t.

On second thought, maybe Tarot does have a card for this. It is one of life altering change, some tragic but some also for the better.

In memory of those lost. In gratitude for lessons learned.

public domain card image

Today’s Tarot: Union of the Devine

Striking a balance requires that decisions be made.

It amazes me that humans have figured out how to teach robots to maintain physical balance. It is a surprisingly complex thing that the human brain does effortlessly, easily. Test the theory: stand on one foot. You don’t have to lift one foot very high off of the floor, but there you stand, on half the support ( more or less, I dunno, I’m not an engineer) that you had a moment ago.

The emotional, mental and spiritual balance that Tarot deals with is no less intricate. Temperance and the number two cards of the four minor suits all speak to different aspects of balance. The Two of Swords is classically associated with indecision, or being of two minds about something. Sometimes that is exactly the energy I get from it in a reading. Other times it is something different, something more. Diane Morgan interprets the card as “mystical unity.” This in a deeply essential way defines balance. A lever isn’t a lever without the fulcrum. Balance isn’t balance without the center spot where the opposites connect, around which balance does its adaptive dance.

For there to be balance, decisions must be made.

Swords are associated with air and intellect. Swords are associated with action. Think and choose.

Choose your balance point. What calls to you today? The balance of magic and mundane? Spiritual versus intellectual? Intellectual versus emotional? Choose where you want to be, and then make choices about what needs changed or shifted to achieve the balance-point that you want. OR change your balance point to suit the conditions that exists. Or some combination thereof.

In the earlier example, you had to choose which foot to stand on. Then you had to choose how high to lift the other one off the floor. You chose when to put it down. Your body automatically made an untold number of tiny muscle adjustments to make it all happen.

Choose, act and find balance. That balance, that being in harmony with the state of being that you happen to find yourself in is indeed a mystical unity where the mundane unites with the divine.