The Eight of Pentacles is about due diligence, effort, work, study, etc. Todays energy is very aligned with that. Even though the eight is silent on outcome in contrast to the ‘reap what you sow’ vibe that we have seen recently in the Seven of Petacles. Today’s card is short term planning, not long term planting.
Today is a day to put your head down, and stick to your knitting. WHAT that knitting IS can vary a great deal from person to person. Maybe your “knitting” today is protest and vocal activism. Maybe your “knitting” is disaster recovery. Maybe your knitting is rocking a baby to sleep for a nap. Maybe your knitting is just getting through your workday. Maybe your knitting is actual knitting.
Whatever your task may be, today’s energy is a reminder to let our mind rest where our physicality lies. It is exhausting to emotional or enthusiastic or passionate all of the time, even when things are good. More so when they are not. There is a certain deep, spiritual rest in doing simple tasks that don’t need a lot of thought and ask nothing of our emotions. Actual knitting is very meditative in that way. It is very much in the Zen frame of mind. In the words of Alan Watts “Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is to simply peel the potatoes.” Or, in the words of the proverb “Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.”
In still other words: Today is a day for mindfulness and the simple comfort of simple routing tasks. Underneath the tedium and sometimes boredom is a resevoir of quiet mindfulness and comfort when you are of a mind to feel it that way.
It’s OK to be OK. It’s OK to not be OK. It’s not OK to pretend.
“The only sin in any of that is in the pretending”
Tuesday afternoon, I watched the secular coalition panel discussion at the Democratic convention. I wish I’d written down the details of the story, who told told it, who it was about, but it didn’t occur to me. The anecdote struck a very personl chord with me. Other than the quote above, the details have escaped.
The speaker told of an atheist friend of his who told his devoutly religious father of his non-belief. He listed all the things so important to the friend’s family that the 20 year old friend could no longer honestly do because he thought it was all, well, BS. He expected anger, hurt or worse from his father, who simply stood, gave the man a hug and told him the only sin in any of his rejections is in the pretending. It would be a far worse offense to pretend to believe, to go through empty motions.
The same idea is true of emotions in general. Queen cards represent a caretaking and nurturing kind of leadership (contrasted with the protective leadership of a King) while Wands cards have to do with the inner world, and the element of fire…our inner passions, emotions, spirituality, beliefs.
The only sin is in the pretending.
This speaks to “toxic positivity” as some are calling it. You could also call it emotional dissonance, or even outright denial. Like most things, it is a two way street.
You can’t manage stress unless you admit it exixts in the first place. You can’t fix the problem until you honestly acknowledge that it is there and begin to understand the real nature of things. Pessimism isn’t always helpful. But neither is seeing the wold through rose colored glasses. Both add to problems. You have to stare reality in the face to deal with what actually is happening.
AND you have to stare your own heart and emotions in the face to accept and acknowledge what they are too. Emotions aren’t good, bad, positive, negative or indifferent, unless we assign that quality to them. It reminds me of that quote from the movie Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. “Fear is just a feeling. You feel hot. You feel hungry. You feel angry. You feel afraid. Fear can never kill you.”
Wise words, even if it comes from pulp fiction. It’s ok to feel what you feel. The feelings won’t hurt you. It’s the stupid shit we do in the name of those feelings that cause problems or make existing problems worse.
Earlier this week (in other words, yesterday) the four of pentacles was one of the cards in the YouChoose Interactive reading. The boilerplate interpretation of repeating cards is that we aren’t learning the lesson that the card is bringing. It’s too soon for that to make any sense, especially in a general audience reading like this. One to one, private, individual readings are very different. In an individual session, I dial in to your specific message within the energy at large and translate that into ideas directed toward you as an idividual. These blog readings are like looking at the energy of a flock of birds or a school of fish all moving roughly together but with scattered individual for whom none of this will make any sense at all.
In this situation, we can’t consider a repeating card, especially one that comes two days in a row, to be an unlearned lesson. Humans just don’t learn or integrate the kind of life-lessons associated with Tarot in that amount of time.
In my minds eye I see the red light emoji, and hear almost a video game sort of alert signal, a little like the ‘time is almost up’ sound they make on American Ninja Warrior. I can also mentally ‘see’ a yellow highlighter marker.
For those of you who chose the Four of Pentacles yesterday, this is a double dose. Having the card appear both yesterday and today makes the message all the more important for you. The way the card moved from an option to a full on general audience hints that the message is growing in importnance and urgency, not fading. The message is for everyone now, but with an extra dose for the folks who chose the card yesterday.
The Four of Pentacles can be associated with greed and stinginess. That isn’t the thread of meaning that is so urgent right now. It speaks more to care, carefulness with budget and money. This is not a good time for impulse buys and self indulgence. Practical, low key, stock the pantry kind of energy is around. Think squirrels gathering walnuts for the winter.
Winter, as they say, is coming.
Pragmatic planning is your friend today. Slow and steady very much wins the race. This isn’t a full energy all out emergency. It isn’t a time of euphoria or dysphoria either one. Plodding, methodical, planning, budgeting are all words that come to mind today.
It’s that time of year. Taking the Four of Coins/Pentacles advice, I’m trying to get organized for Fall. Forgive the repetition, but it helps me to triage and prepare if I organize a few basic announcements for you.
First, there won’t be a premium blog after all. All of the blog, all of the YouTube channel is free and open. I haven’t monetized either one. Both the blog and the channel take some time and effort to do, especially since I’m a great Tarot reader but not such a great video media personality. The steep learning curve continues. If you like what you read in the blog, and use it oftern, please consider getting a peronal reading. One card readings are the cost of a coffeehouse latte. Although I wouldn’t object to being paid in my favorite drink, you can’t send coconut vanilla flat whites through email. If you are so inclined, distance readings are available for order 24/7 no appointment needed on the home page.
Second, I hope you’ll consider following the blog by email along with your favorite social media (say hi on Instagram and Twitter, I actually interact with those) If you follow the blog, you’ll get all of the content. There will be print only posts that do not appear on the YouTube channel.
Third, due to the ongoing pandemic and the oncoming flu season, in-person readings and party Tarot readings are still closed. If you want a live, real-time reading, phone readings are available by appointment with prepayment. Order a phone session just like you would order anything online using the secure paypal button HERE then contact me at TaoCraftTarot@gmail.com to schedule your session.
Fourth, ask me anything! The comments are back open and you are welcome to tell me the kind of content you want to see, or ask any questions you like. I won’t promise an individual reply, but I will answer everything that I can in the blog itself. Any spam or anything inappropriate will be thrown into an active volcano and never heard from again.
Pick a card. Pause the video if you would like a minute to decide, the restart the video to see the reveal. Full card descriptions follow below.
Left: Three of Pentacles (Coins). Hard work pays off. It’s just that simple. Not a lot to say here except persist. Sometimes there isn’t a big life lesson, or any large meaning to things. Sometimes you just have to grind out the practical down-to-earth things that need to be done. Stay diligent, and it will pay off later. The pay off here feels less like income or money, but more like hang tight, stay the course, stick to the schedule, “work the problem” as the Apollo 13 movie said. The payoff will be in better timing later, more opportunities later. “Make hay while the sun shines” comes to mind along with “leave the fancy stuff for later”
Center: Four of Coins. This card seems tied to the time of year. It feels like late August doldrums. Like the three of Coins, this isn’t a time for risk, or drama or change. The Four of coins has been read at times as a “secret treasure,” like a small money surprise like finding a forgotten dollar bill in your Autumn jacket. This week’s energy isn’t that. Sometimes it is read as miserly, stingy energy. Today isn’t quite that either. This isn’t motivated by greed, like the miser, Scrooge-y card meanings are. This is smart conservation. This is a week to mind the budget. No impulse buys or extravagant impulses. Austerity is a better word. A little austerity now will make things more comfortable later on.
Right: Justice. This card has to do with reason, wisdom, and using good judgement. It also taps into a conservative, austere energy. This is a time to look before you leap, and wight both sides of a decision, even when you already have a clear opposition to one side. It is a time to let your head rule your heart. Follow the science. Dare I say wear a mask.
Heat of summer lingers. There is a plodding to the finish line feeling to the summer, which feels like it will trudge to the end. This summer doesn’t feel like it will go out with any sort of bang or flourish. It’s hard to see any celebration energy for a while. The transition to fall feels gradual, sliding, fading, barely noticed, but headed toward more comfort, not less.
But get your flu shot. Everyone.
Peridot, the August birthstone comes to mind, as if this August is extra-August-y, as if this August is very VERY peridot.
By virtue of its green color, peridot is associated with the heart chakra. It is associated with physical healing energies and helping the mind-body connection to understand when physical ailments have a strong spiritual emotional component. It has been called the ‘wounded healer’ stone, battlefield medicine and the word “triage’ come to mind here.
Peridots that are more yellowish can also be associated with the solar plexus chakra, confidence and growing wealth.
If you feel drawn to Peridot, research it more on your own. Of the many meanings and correlations for the stone, the one that captures your imagination is the right one for you. This needs to be a personal discovery, not one I can tell you in a blog.
Today is a good example of why just memorizing card meanings isn’t enough.
Tarot cards are nothing sacred, nothing independent from ourselves. They are a tool – and a damned useful one – for accessing our own intuition and insight. The cards trigger the mental images, sounds, words or other mental-sensations or emotional feelings that typically carry the core message. Tarot readings are most powerful when you combine the classic card meanings with your own intuitive read of the energy of the moment. The first is a root, a foundation. The second is drawing from that root to meet the need of the moment.
Learning structured meanings for the cards is the beginning, a necessary gateway to using cards intuitively. Today we begin with one (of many) classic, well known meanings for this card: creativity. Generally the Ace of Cups is associated with inspiration and new ideas. Of the many meanings given for the card, creative inspiration is the one that most captures my attention today. The idea of creative inspiration (think Muse) is supported in the artwork. Think of the water pouring into the cup as new ideas being poured into your creative mind and expressive talents.
On the purely intuitive side, I get the mental image of a graphic of a human brain, like one of those pleasant, artsy 3d-ish graphics they have in memory support supplement commercials. I could “see” bright points, like diamonds scattered across the image connected by thin silver, shiny threads and “heard” the term “neural network.”
And no, I’m not hallucinating. This is all very much just the product of inner, mental imagination. Sometimes internal mental processes are best communicated in simple, spiritual, even primitive language. Saying ‘see’ is the best way to describe intuition (or energy, or spirit, pick your vocabulary) coming to mind in the form of images of things. Saying ‘hear’ is the best way to describe when intuition presents itself in the form of words or sounds.
Tarot is both literally and subtly symbolic. Sometimes the two daisy-chain together to give the card’s meaning, just like words chain together to form a coherent sentence idea. On the card, the literal image of water pouring into a chalice can symbolize an outpouring of inspiration. Combine that with the diamond-like ‘neural network’ and it reminds me of something I read once…not sure where….that creativity is not so much a function of making something totally new as much as it is a function of discovering new and novel connections between things that already exist. In some sense, that process of making new connections is the root of all creativity. Science is not the only human endeavor where we stand on the shoulders of Newton’s giants. We have to make things out of the resources at hand. Creativity can find new whole new resources or it can make new things out of what is already there. Both count.
So let’s find the diamonds and connect the dots for today.
Advice message: Today is a good day to follow your creative impulses. Don’t let a good idea spill away.
Caution message: If it isn’t a part of your livelihood or an absolute necessity, don’t force yourself into creativity. The best ideas are spontaneous. If it isn’t happening, wait for inspiration.
Validation message: Yes, that idea is as good as you think. Roll with it.
Working from intuition, these suggestions are inspired by, not traditionally associated with, the Ace of Cups:
Book suggestion: “Every Tool’s a Hammer” by Adam Savage
Aromatherapy: Lemongrass, bergamot or citronella
Crystals: Rainbow fluorite, iolite, amazonite (crown and throat chakras, inspiration and communication)
Affirmation: I see connections clearly and take inspiration from them.
A few quick announcements:
The premium blog won’t be happening after all. The entire blog is FREE, the specials and giveaways are for everyone, and the YouTube channel is still not monetized. That being said, any likes, shares, blog follows, social media subs and follows and reading orders are always greatly appreciated!
I need your help in another way too. The slo-mo ask me anything is going to happen under a different name. Zombie Cat wants to hibernate for a while. He’s just not that into it if people aren’t asking questions. If you have a question for the new look AMA, please leave them in the comments below or on YouTube, Instagram or Twitter (I won’t see it if you use FB or Tumblr. My content is there, but I don’t interact with those platforms)
Reality may not be pretty. “Think positive” some say. What about about being positive things are bad? A problem can not be solved unless you accept that it exists. A problem can not be solved well unless you see it as it actually exists and understand the resources that are available. Problems aren’t the problem. Avoidance, denial, minimization, projection, fear, anxiety, anger, hatred, resentment; these things are problems.
Constantly playing the victim and eternal pessimism are asking for a problem. Denial and Pollyanna positivism are asking for a problem.
Staring reality in the eye, rolling up your sleeves and getting to work is asking for a solution.
Take a deep breath. Drink in some soft, intuitive energy from the full moon picture below. Pick a card on impulse, or think about it for a minute. Pause the video if you need more time, then restart to see the reveal. Scroll down for the full one-card meditation style reading.
Left: Six of Cups. Let yourself get lost in the moment. There is an ocean of internal quiet whenever you need it. All it takes is a shift in attention. Gaze. Allow yourself to appreciate some small detail in the middle of chaos. Notice the color of a dandelion growing in the crack of a sidewalk beside a noisy, busy street. Watch a candle burn. Draw a picture. Or color one. Being in the moment and absorbed by any task can offer a moment of silent respite. Happy National Book Lovers Day! Suggested reading for this card: Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards
Center: Four of Wands. Find your tribe. What is your self image? What is your self identity? How do you classify or imagine yourself? What is your spiritual foundation and DNA? Finding that, celebrating that can make anywhere a comfort and a home. When you know your own heart, your tribe and home travels with you anywhere. Happy National Book Lovers Day! Suggested reading for this card: The Hero Within by Carol Pearson
Right: Eight of Swords. Fear of the unknown is deep, primal, ubiquitous, often paralyzing. It takes a deep courage to face the unknown and to think outside the box, to problem solve in motion. Go to the go-to and more. Use every sense. Look at a problem…but also listen, touch and smell it too. Bring everything you can online to make the unknown as knowable as you can. Thinking outside the box can help you feel less trapped inside of one. Happy National Book Lovers Day! Suggested reading for this card: Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar by James Marcus Bach
Just like in the video – I want to start today with a big thank you. Thank you to everyone who reads the blog, watches on YouTube, or follows on social media. A big thank you to everyone who subscribes to the channel or follows the blog (you can do that by email or in WordPress reader. The buttons are in the right hand column in landscape view or scroll WAY down on mobile)
I want to give an extra big thank you to everyone who leaves comments in either place. It is especially helpful on the video side. If you let me know the kind of Tarot content you want to see, then I can learn how to create it. I’ve been reading Tarot for 27 years and writing a blog about it for over 17 of those years. I’m really, really good at that part of it. There is, however, a learning curve to the video side of things. They don’t cover YouTube in B.S. Med. Sci or Ph.D. Natural Health degrees, so my GenX geezer brain is learning that part on the fly.
Most videos will be pretty short. They were never intended to be more than a companion piece for the blog, just like this post today. The videos enhance the blog by showing the daily readings are generated by a real person with a real Tarot deck doing a real card draw. The blog enhances the video with in depth card interpretations. Intuition communicates differently than how-tos, recipes, and game play-through. I often stop and listen to intuition during a reading in order to do the best possible job for you. That pause is invisible in print, barely noticeable in person, but a small eternity on YouTube. The pause in today’s video was a grand total of six seconds. I allow short pauses on private reading videos, but nobody likes any amount of dead air on YouTube. There are lots of talented speech-to-camera readers out there, but its not my specialty. I’m a distance for individuals specialist, but not a media maven for the masses. Cue the Dr. McCoy voice: Dammit Jim, I’m a writer, not a yootoober!
The pandemic is preventing face to face readings and that whole Stripe debacle is preventing you from a blog subscription that includes individual readings. Screw-em. Let’s do this another way. Let’s use comment questions and blog answers like a giant, slow-motion, ongoing AMA. You ask. I answer. The down side is that the answer is in a public space, with NO expectation of privacy. The up side is that it’s FREE. I benefit from the creative inspiration that your questions bring AND I hope that, once you get a taste of what TaoCraft Tarot readings are like, you’ll want to purchase a private reading or two.
Use the comments below to submit your questions about, well, anything. Comments are moderated, so anything inappropriate or spam will be cursed and obliterated. So just don’t.
Today’s card gives us a good example of the difference between a personalized private reading and the general card readings online. We all look up at the same moon even though our individual thoughts under that shared moonlight are an intensely personal thing. Moonlight carries both a shared and individual experience. Tarot questions can do the same. Your public answer might seem superficial, but it helps other people – you all see the same moon, metaphorically speaking. A private session is more specialized and detailed, just for you like your unique inner experience of looking at the moon, that doesn’t involve anyone else at all.
The moon card is about deep inner spirituality, listening to deeper intuition…which also fits this. Spirit messages are all whispers and moonbeams. A genuine intuitive reading for you as an individual doesn’t make for great social media. I hope you’ll use the AMA, the videos and the website to all decide if I’m the right Tarot reader for you, but I also hope you’ll respect yourself and your inner voice enough to purchase a private session if you think you we are a good match. I can do so much more for you in a private reading than in these media snippets show.
Pick a card, left, center or right. Pause the video if you need a minute then restart for the reveal. Or just go with your first impulse. It works find either way. Then scroll down for the full reading. After that, I’ll be making a ranty announcemet un-announcing what I previously announced. Feel free to click away if you aren’t in the mood for it. I won’t swear. Much. I promise.
Left: Page of Pentacles. Learning is the elixer of youth. A little exercise doesn’t hurt, either. Pentacles are associated with earth element and the physical realm, often with career or wealth. If you are involved with any sort of training for work, this is a good week to focus on that. Energy put into aquiring new skill will be productive at some point. The Page of Penticles often hint at new opportunities. If you are well along in your career and an expert in your field, then write or teach. That is a learning experience too. If you have to understand something very well in order to explain it clearly and simply. No matter which end of the Socratic log you are sitting on, this week’s energy is flowing toward communication and new ideas.
Center: Page of Cups. I love this card. Life can be ridiculous. Some days you just kind of find yourself standing in the surf staring at a fish. Weird things happen. Life can be random. I feel a funky mojo week coming on. We can let it get to us – stew, brew and give it energy OR we can surf the waves and bring our new fishy friend. Other people’s harsh can be soothed by the waters of our sense of humor. Sure, 2020 has been a hot toxic dumpster fire in the U.S. for a lot of people. It’s hard to keep a sense of humor about real problems, but it helps.
Right: Nine of Pentacles. This card is associated with “truth” Of course everything is relative and there always seems to be that famous addendum that something is true “from a certain point of view.” This week, you may be asked to see the difference between subjective ‘truth’ and objective facts. Be clear on the objective and measurable. This is a week to remember that everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. Objective, observable, prove-able facts can be your tether and gaslight gas mask. Stay rooted and grounded, and be the voice of reason as best as you can in a week that might seem a little off kilter all around you.
You know that new subscription tier for the blog with the extra content and the one card tarot reading for each subscriber? Not happening.
Stripe, the payment processing service used for the premium blog arbitrarily excludes legitamate businesses on the basis of their content alone. To my mind this constitues outright discrimination against non-mainstream spiritual expression, like Tarot. I caution against working with this company in any capacity.
That being said, there will be no change in the blog or youtube channel. Both will remain free and unmonetized. Your reading purchases will still be processed through secure, reputable PayPal buttons.
I have over 25 years of experience. I’m really good at this – distance readings have been my specialty for years, so you are getting the benefit of that experience with each session. I’ve said time and again that Tarot does not and can not predict the future. That, as I see it, puts Tarot clearly in the realm of customized folk and first amendment protected speech and spiritual practice. My business practices are tranparent and expllicity published here.
As are prices. They are explicit, flat rate fee for service except large parties will charged hourly whenever they return. You know your full cost up front before you ever place the order for your distance reading or live phone session. No per minute rates that keep you talking and no hidden fees, ever.
Long story short, your blog follows, shares, likes, and reading orders are more appreciated than ever, particularly while in-person and party readings are closed during the pandemic.
The Ace of Wands is picking up a thread of energy from yesterday’s Page of Swords. There is still a sense of thinking and an intellectual process of some kind. The Ace of Wands is all about creativity, but in this case is a practical creativity and the logic of making that steps forward. Adam Savage’s excellent book Every Tool’s a Hammer comes to mind. He talks about the problem solving aspects of art, making and creativity in general. Flights of fancy are one thing. In imagination, anything is possible. It takes some serious problem solving and logical making to bring that imagination to tactile, usable life. Creativity combined with making an idea into a real thing is a whole-brain process. It requires us to connect disparate dots, plan, use logic, organize and experiment.
Just because something has never been done before doesn’t mean that you can’t do it now. Just because no one has done something before doesn’t mean that you can’t be the first. Just be ready for some industrial strength problem solving. Dream the dream, then create the logical make.
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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