Tag: pittsburgh tarot readiner

Inexpensive Treasure

We all have at least one – go get yours with today’s short sip Tarot and the Ten of Pentacles

We’ve all got one. Or a bunch. It’s the weekend. Go get yours.

Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.

We’ve all heard this one before. I’d say this card is a broken record, but since digital and streaming doesn’t have that particular glitch I’ll skip the reference that no one this side of gen X would really get.

The song remains the same. We’ve all heard this one before. Which, in the Tarot and personal growth business, is more of a validation than being a mere cliche.

I like to think that when a card, like today’s ten of pentacles, keeps harping on the same idea, it adds to the meaning instead of diluting it. Things like “money can’t buy happiness” or “little things mean a lot” or “the simple pleasures are the best” are all platitudes and aphorisms for a reason. The generalized truth behind them is potent enough that it is like archetype and aphorism combined. Whatever big word you want to call it, these repeating messages woven through a long time Tarot practice are worth listening to.

Pentacles are associated with the element of earth. They symbolize wealth, money, career, practicality and our relationship with the physical realm. Ten is as large as the number cards get.

In the I Ching, the Chinese “book of changes” which has been used for guidance in a way very akin to Tarot, there is the idea of changing lines. When you use three coins to methodically choose with I Ching hexagram to read, three of either heads or tails is considered a “changing line.” The line in the hexagram is maximum yin or maximum yang. There is an idea in Taoism that anything in its extreme holds the seed of its opposite. If life is always changing and in motion, then I see that as meaning a tipping point. Like that old children’s game – it is a pot so full that one more bean can tip it over and spill into becoming something else.

That is what is happening with the ten of pentacles. Sure, it shows an idealized happy family, pets included. There is a tipping point here – and it isn’t what you might think.

The opposite of maximum coins isn’t bankruptcy. The opposite of the happiness depicted isn’t misery. The tipping point here is from the tangible into the intangible. Of all the contentment depicted in the card and in all those RWS derived decks, none of them are dependent on being rich. Food, water, shelter, basics sustain life. Beyond that, the truly precious things are at once both practically free and unspeakably priceless; people who care about you, a friendly dog wagging their tail when they see you, a little sit in the shade on a hot day or a soft chair near the heater on a cold one.

Innocent or guilty the little pleasures are what the ten of pentacles is talking about today. Think of those photos of President Biden in his aviator sunglasses smiling and enjoying an ice cream cone. That’s what we’re talking about. He is well paid and as powerful as it gets. Yet, how much does an ice cream cone cost? Change from the sofa cushions would close to cover it. Almost anyone can access it. Yet the pleasure the ice cream can bring – that part is priceless and even easier to get. All you have to do is let yourself have it. The ice cream is just the carrier, it’s the delivery method for the happy. Pick your delivery method. It can be any little thing that delights you. It can be any little thing that you have on hand right here, right now. Mine today is my Spotify playlists.

Go.

Go get your inexpensive treasure. Then let yourself have the happy.

Thank you so much for reading and listening. I appreciate you, your follows, likes and any shares you can spare.

The blog and podcast are both not monetized in any way and are supported through your private reading purchases and the TaoCraft Tarot shop and memberships on ko-fi. Thank you for helping to create this (almost) daily Tarot contemplation for everyone.

See you at the next sip!

It is what it is

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today it is what it is with the six of cups

Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee.

Today’s card is the six of cups.

This is one of those cards that landed like a dud grenade right in my wheelhouse. It speaks to exactly how I’m feeling. I hope it is little bit helpful to one of you too.

Emotional content is optional.

It is what it is. It is a peaceful, happy thing to be able to take things at face value. As long as what needs done gets done, you don’t have to be all bubbly and enthusiastic about it. It’s as exhausting to be all cutesy unicorns all the the time as it is to be down and worried all of the time.

Some days just are what they are.

It’s not even that “chop wood and carry water” zen proverb kind of energy. There is room in that proverb for joyful wood chopping and water carrying. There is room in the proverb for dreading your chores too. I’m talking about complete beige lukewarm shoulder shrug of a “MEH” kind of day. Not that it’s a bad thing. Raging neutrality is restful. It’s a kind of a relief really. That’s is the beauty of the six of cups card. It’s a take things at face value card. It is the 180 degree opposite of the the overthinking seven of cups card.

Cups, along with all of their water, intuition and relationship connotations, can also symbolize emotions. Pamela Smith depicts two children and flowers and seemingly peaceful play on a sunny afternoon. The card is often connected with innocence and beauty and that is very much present in the card. The key part today is the innocence. It is about an utter lack of artifice. These kids aren’t ginning up emotional content. Their afternoon is what it is. They are taking cups full of flowers as they are. There is actually a deep authenticity and honesty around this energy. That is so important for a day like this. While the day is what it is we are free to be who we are and feel what we feel. Even if what feel is a little “meh.”

I was watching the winter Olympics earlier today. I have a minority opinion: I don’t like women’s figure skating. Who gives a flying Hamil camel about emotional content, artistic content and how much they were smiling? It’s an athletic competition. Do they throw the technique or don’t they? Nobody says anything about the emotional quality of the people throwing themselves head first down the side of of an icy mountain on a cafeteria tray. Like skeleton, out here in the real world away from the performing arts and multi media, action speaks louder than the feels. It is perfectly OK to go through a day without the rollicking feels. Do the essentials and accept your emotions (or lack thereof) at face value. They are what they are.

Like I was talking about in the Valentine Q&A post a few days ago, in Tarot and romance readings, the clients emotions and everyone’s privacy are of prime importance. The six of cups reminds me of a few more things for the list of important Tarot things. Add authenticity and dealing with things as they are to the list too.

You all know that I’m a huge Adam Savage fan. I think it was a short Q&A video on Tested or maybe on Tested’s instagram feed, but one time he was talking about how he feels a little down or low energy after wrapping up a big project. At least I think that’s the words he used. I may be paraphrasing. I’ve found that to be true, on a much smaller scale of course. I’ve knitted blankets for family members as gifts. I don’t know if you’ve ever knitted a blanket but it is less of a work in progress and more of a lifestyle choice. It takes some serious time to make one of those babies. Weirdly, the next day after the blanket was finished I felt compelled to knit something else. Maybe it was simple inertia. Maybe it was to fill the void a big project leaves when it’s done. After putting so much time and attention and emotional investment into a project, it leaves a noticeable gap when its gone. The same it true of eBooks and essays, even the teeny tiny little ones that I write.

Yesterday I put My Tarot Valentine out in the world for purchase from the ko-fi shop. I’ve been writing early February My Tarot Valentine posts for the blog since 2015 and tinkering with the eBook collection of those posts off and on since last year. I’m beyond over it. Still, clicking that upload button always has a little bit of a ripping off the bandage feel. Wrapping up that project led to a minor case of the snarky BLAHS today. I almost didn’t do a short sip post because I just wasn’t feeling it. But did it anyway and here comes the six of cups to remind me that taking a day as it is and working with the BLAHS for what they are actually is today’s short sip Tarot.

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Thanks again and see you at the next sip

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Let Kindness Decide

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today: seven of cups

Hello. Welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is the seven of cups.

For the past several years, on the first fourteen days of February, I did a series of posts called “My Tarot Valentine” where the one card daily coffee fueled Tarot contemplation was focused on love, romance, and relationships. From one sentence affirmations to a few paragraphs of advice, whatever card that turned up was viewed through as much of a pink hued Valentines Day lens as I could muster.

There were fewer cups cards than you would expect over the years. Interestingly, here we are back in early February and we have a cup card with no romantic or relationship vibe around it whatsoever.

The essence of the message is vague and generally as it always is when you are reading for a wide audience online like this. It can apply to anything, really, including romance. The vibe is basically: don’t be arrogant in your decision making, let kindness lead the way.

Cups symbolize emotions, and the emotion often associated with the seven is feeling overwhelmed, or feeling a level of anxiety because of overthinking things. It can also be a sort of decision paralysis as it is called. That is the feeling you get when there are so many delicious sounding things on a menu that you can’t decide what to order. Instead of an embarrassment of riches, it is an embarrassment of choices.

Having too many good choices, like the delicious menu is a privilege. Feeling boxed in by nothing but equally bad options is a dilemma. Both are solved by letting logic rest and letting heart and kindness lead the way. Look, as many have said, for the highest good with harm to none, yourself included.

Thank you for watching, reading and listening. Neither this blog cast nor the YouTube channel are monetized, so these Tarot card readings depend on your support. Your likes, subs, shares, private reading orders, Tarot Table memberships and ‘buy me a coffee’ donations are always greatly appreciated.

Thanks again, and I’ll see you at the next sip!

Today’s Tarot: Pound Foolish

“Penny wise and pound foolish” came to mind with this card today. Like any ‘Murican, I naturally thought Benjamin Franklin wrote it, but a little Googling shows that it was actually a phrase coined by Robert Burton, England’s 16th century aphorism machine. He also said stuff about greasy books and proud humble people. He’s worth a look if you are into the quote thing.

If there is an energy vibe to the card at all, it would be something like “quit screwing around with all the woo woo stuff and use your head.”

Reversals, we’ve talked about. It just means the energy or area of life the card evokes is blocked, slowed or problematic. It doesn’t have to mean something negative or bad, it just gives background context to the overall message.

Often these kinds of head over heart messages come from sword cards. Pentacles is close behind with its association with the earth element. That is the feel today…this is a time to be solid, steady, grounded. Not the day for flights of imagination. This is the roll up your sleeves and work part of working magick.

It make sense, too, in the context of Pentacles’ association with money, career, wealth, work, and all aspects of the physical realm. Those sorts of things scream out for logic, and down to earth practicality. In short, this card is telling us to be “pound wise” to paraphrase Burton. This card is reminding us that money matters should always be goverened by logic and knowlegde.

Page cards are often about learning…they were the knights in training. What is it that you don’t know that could be hurting your long range planning, whatever that planning is about…but doubly so if career or money has been top of mind lately. This is a good day to make sure you have all your ducks in a row, cross your Ts and dot your Is and any other proverbs you want to throw in the mix. Look for any gaps in your knowledge that might cost you later, be it monetary or otherwise.

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