Hi and welcome to the TaoCraft Tarot blog and Podcast. I’m glad you are here. I hadn’t planned on doing one of these this week, but when the time presented itself, well, the schedule is that there is no schedule so here we are.
This is a new blog & podcast feature that I’m developing. It’s purely intuition driven, using crystal chips and rune stones tossed randomly on a reading cloth as a prompt, or a sounding board, or an amplifier for the intuition. But then, that is exactly how Tarot readings work so it isn’t so much develop as practice. You get the idea.
I like the way this energy picks up where the last one leaves off. Remember how the runestones made a line, a wall of sorts a few weeks ago. The advice was to chill and not to push and wait for the energy to flow again.
This is our cue. We are past whatever that blockage or “wait” energy was. Energy is on an upswing. It’s time to climb. It’s time to move again…or time to move on.
Here the images go all pop culture. I get a snippet of that old Doors song, about “break on through to the other side” (Where did that come from? I’m listening to my goth playlist right now, for crying out loud.) Here is another reference for the gen X and boomers out there. Cue the kool-aid “oh yeah” commercials with the pitcher mascot guy breaking through walls and stuff. I think that means we are definitely on the other side of whatever that blockage might have been.
But it isn’t as lighthearted as flavored sugary sugar drinks might imply. There is a catch in the throat and a little heaviness in the pit of the stomach with this one. It is definitely time to move on, but it isn’t necessarily with with a light heart or a dry eye. This is a very nostalgic time of year. It is the hardest time to think of leaving anything behind, even things that have proven harmful or long past due. There is a strong eight of cups sort of bittersweet feeling here.
As much as I love Halloween, there comes a time to get rid of the moldy jack o lantern and that turkey carcass has got to go.
It is also a very forward looking time of year. We all hold hope that next year will be just a little better. That happens. I live in the United States so I can only compare the local energies, really, but compare 2022 to the toxic dumpster fire explosion that 2020 here. NOW covid vaccines and real treatments actually exist, unemployment is remarkably low, things are getting fixed because there actually was an infrastructure bill,there is a good man in the White House and toilet paper in the stores. I might have to make a loaf of sourdough just for old time’s sake, but that’s another story.
The larger piece of raw quarz at the top gives a sense of amplified energy “from above.” We are moving again, and headed in a good direction.
My logical side throws in “don’t screw it up” in what sounds a lot like Han Solo telling Luke Skywalker not to get cocky.
The Raidho rune is expansive, and speaks of will power, personal power, discipline, self-control, motivation, action…all of which fits the narrative of movement, rising, moving on.
Ihwaz speaks of an awareness of karma, and personal responsibility. We reap as we sow, and the seeds we plant now brings a future harvest. Act as if what you give to the universe returns to you three times as much.
The light and dark crystals seem even in amount, a reminder to be as steady and balanced as you can be. Solid footing is more important than speed. Slow and steady is still moving ahead, still moving on, just the same as a sprint. This isn’t a race.
The lone chip off to the side reminds that what is said isn’t for everyone. You must decide if it resonates or if you are an outlier to this cast’s message.
And there the energy steps back.
I was around more than planned in November, but the blog and podcast are going to be on for-real hiatus from December 5 to December 22. Happy Holidays to all of you, whatever holiday you may or may not celebrate.
I celebrate the human spirit that survives the long night and the diverse multitude of colorful lights that you all are. Best wishes to you. See you soon.
A good Tarot reading begins before anyone touches a card. How do you find a psychic that you can trust?
The best place to start is at the beginning. Or in this case, before the beginning.
Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.
Picking up where we left off in the Real Talk Rewind blog post and in honor of the Halloween anniversary of re-branding my old Tarot work into TaoCraft Tarot, I’m re-introducing the whole story start to finish. On one hand this is the part of online work that feels egotistical and weird. Self-promotion is very icky feeling and I can totally see why there are old school superstitions about money and spirituality. On the other hand, the cure for the ickiness is communication and the cure for superstition is rigorous professionalism and full transparency. That’s why I do all of this “a rose by any other name” writing around this time of year.
I am grateful for the opportunity to do Tarot work, and the TaoCraft name and content is the most authentic expression of what it’s all about. But I’ll get back to that later. In fact, I’ll get back to all of that in the ebook I’m still trying to put together, TaoCraft: Portfolio.
If the place to begin is the beginning, let’s begin the story of TaoCraft Tarot BEFORE the beginning. The real beginning of the beginning is when you decide that you want to get a reading.
That is exactly where Portfolio begins too.
Once you have decided that you want a reading, how do you find a psychic that you can trust to do the reading? This is about that step in the process. This is about finding the right person to work with you on that reading you just decided to get. That is where Portfolio comes in. It is written to give some context and background to Tarot in general and my readings in particular so that you can see in detail if TaoCraft Tarot is the right place for you.
This ebook excerpt has a permanent page on the website, and I’ve posted it in the blog before. Here it is again as a beginning before the beginning of any reading we do together, including the collective energy, broad audience Short Sip blog posts and podcast episodes. What follows is an excerpt chapter fromthe upcoming ebook TaoCraft: Portfolio.
The Tao of Finding a Psychic
There aren’t many spiritual portfolios around. So how do you know who is the right psychic for you? How do you avoid scams and know who to trust?
The first step, of course, is to follow your own instincts.
Right away, that sounds like a bunch of double talk. If using your instincts was the answer, then you wouldn’t need to consult a psychic in the first place.
I believe that we all possess good intuition, but sometimes it helps to have another point of view. Two heads really can be better than one. It takes two separate eyes for us to physically see depth and distance. Two points of view can give depth and distance to our ideas, too. Even professional readers consult with other psychics sometimes. Tarot cards and professional psychics are amplifiers for your intuition, not a substitute for it. It’s said that spirit speaks in whispers. We professionals serve to translate spirit’s whispers into louder language that you can actually use.
Most people wouldn’t hesitate to ask friends, family or neighbors for a recommendation if they need a plumber or a mechanic or a hair stylist. Why should this be any different? I wouldn’t suggest asking your super religious granny if she knows a good psychic, but asking like-minded people is a pretty reliable way to find a good reader. Word of mouth is often the only way to find some of the best psychics . If you already know a psychic that you like and trust, recommending them is a wonderful way to support their work.
Without a personal recommendation, you might have to dig a little; read ads, visit websites, ask at small local bookstores or holistic health shops. Those of us on this side of the reading table are a little underground for all the same reasons that you need to be on guard. We still have to protect ourselves and our families from cultural and religious bigotry, even in 21st century America. We have to protect ourselves from the reputation scammers and con artists have brought to psychic services. We have to protect ourselves from people trying to scam us. We have to deal with all the same pitfalls that you do. Wariness on both sides can make it hard for sincere psychics and well meaning clients to connect with each other.
When you get a recommendation or find an ad that catches your attention, don’t be shy. Talk to the person. Text, email or call, but the trick here is to ask calm reasonable questions. Don’t suddenly pour out your heart to a stranger or interrogate them as if they had already done something criminal. Instead, ask them about practical things, like scheduling, location, hours, prices, accepted forms of payment and so on.
It is often easier to get a feel for the person’s personality and ethics from this kind of bland conversation than any other way. Questions like these are safe, neutral ground for both of you. Working psychics want to protect everyone’s privacy and comfort level. If you are just a little bit friendly, you’ll find that a trustworthy psychic will meet you more than half way. If they treat mundane business questions with professionalism and kindness, chances are they will treat your reading the same way. If they seem like they are hiding something, making a hard core sales pitch or it all just seems way too good to be true, then by all means pay attention to those feelings. It’s ok to talk to several people before you commit to an appointment.
Once you’ve talked to people or browsed the ads, if it feels right and you can afford it – try a session. If it is a good match, you’ll know right away. A Tarot reading should never make you feel judged or uncomfortable. If that first session isn’t a good experience, simply try again with someone else. Personality and style are important factors in finding the right psychic for you. Some people enjoy a little glam and drama. Others prefer a relaxed, cookies-at-the-kitchen table vibe. A mismatch in style or personality doesn’t mean that the reader did anything wrong. Neither did you. You should never take it personally or be made to feel that a bad session was your fault for “not believing” or any such nonsense.
Of course, always use plenty of common sense to steer clear of the many scams that do exist. So-called psychics who promise to fix your love life, cure anything, give 100% accurate predictions, or demand regular appointments should be approached with caution. Or better still, not approached at all. I’ve met a lot of excellent psychics and Tarot readers over the past 30 years. None of them, not a single one, ever offers a reading out of the blue to a stranger. Never. Advertising, special offers, or giveaways to the general public are normal business practices. Targeting an individual in the guise of “feeling a connection” or being “led by spirit” to do a reading for them is on par with spam bots and email phishing – or worse.
Thanks to the Internet, no matter where you live, you can get affordable, expert Tarot readings. The extrasensory, intuitive, psychic part of a reading comes from outside of ordinary space and time. Communicating the reading to you by phone or internet instead of in-person doesn’t change the content of the message itself. Distance readings are as exactly as valid as in-person sessions, possibly more so. With a distance reading, you know the message is truly intuitive. With email in particular, there is no way for you to give away body language cues or answer leading questions. Distance readings protect you from deceptive ‘cold readings’ and stage mentalism.
Finding a trustworthy psychic online poses the same problems as finding one in-person, multiplied by the sheer number of people available. Trusting your feelings is all the more important when you work online despite the many cost, convenience, and privacy benefits of a distance reading.
Distance readings are my specialty. I began my public Tarot work online. Over the years, I learned that websites can carry a vibe the same way that physical spaces do. A psychic may not have technical skill as a webmaster, but you can still get a feel for the person behind the web page. As time goes on, blogs and social media have become easier and easier to use. A psychic with few computer skills can present themselves well. An up to date website and social media presence is a good clue to the amount of care and attention that the psychic is putting into their professional practice. An outdated website can mean that the reader is no longer working professionally or that they are better suited to in-person sessions. Good distance psychics seem to be a fairly tech savvy crowd.
In-person or at a distance, there are lots of sincere, trustworthy psychics available but they are sometimes hard to find. It’s worth the effort to find the right price, style, personality, and format for you. You’ll get a better reading and more value for your money in the long run. Following your instincts combined with a little common sense can help you find a trustworthy Tarot reader.
After reading this booklet, I hope your instincts will be to work with me.
Thank you for reading and listening! I appreciate it!
I also appreciate any likes, subs, shares, follows, questions and comments that you can give.
The blog and podcast are not monetized and depend on you. Please visit the TaoCraft Tarot Page on ko-fi.com where your purchases and memberships all support this free to access blog and podcast.
There are more big drink background posts to come. Until then, I’ll see you at the next sip!
Keeping it real never stops in this business, but sometimes it helps to turn up the volume.
Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.
Today’s card is the ace of swords.
Each of the minor arcana suits have a variety of associations. They are connected to a classic, alchemical element. Swords are air. Each suit has a handful of keyword connections that apply to the whole suit over and above the individual card meanings. For swords you have things like action, intellect, logic, and the realm of mind.
I deliberately chose the Ace of Swords for today. It wasn’t a random thing. It was the best card I could think of that would represent what I want to talk about. The topic is reverse engineering the card instead of the card inspiring the topic for a change. Reverse engineering your daily card is kind of fun to do every now and then, and a good way to help learn the deck if you are just starting out. Think of something abstract – a feeling, an idea, any intangible concept – and then browse the Tarot cards or an oracle deck or any visual image anywhere that resonates with that intangible idea.
The Ace of Swords is associated with keywords like “truth” and “communication.” That makes it a good card for what I’m aiming to do today. It’s an exercise in disclosure and transparency.
In the excerpt from my upcoming e-booklet TaoCraft: Portfolio on the blog page “How To Find a Psychic You Can Trust” open, consistent, mundane, ordinary business policies are one of the hallmarks of trustworthiness. If a psychic is open and honest and patient with you when you talk about run of the mill business things like hours and payment and scheduling and refunds and all of that stuff, then chances are they will treat your Tarot reading or psychic reading with the same respect. And this long post today is me walking that talk. Once a year or so, I try to re-introduce my policies and philosophies – restate my mission statement if you will.
None of this is new. If you are familiar I won’t be offended if you bail out now. I would too if I were you. All of this is always available on the “ABOUT” and “POLICY” pages on the blog website. I probably have too much information on the website but it is all there out in the open for you to read any time you want. The contact email for customer service is right on the home page, and you can ask any question you have there or in the blog comments. You are always more than welcome to browse the whole website including all of the old blog posts. The last time I tried it, the search box in the right hand column worked perfectly. If you want to know about a particular Tarot card, or anything about Tarot really, just type it in the search box and you’ll get a whole list full of old posts to read. If you can’t find what you want, just ask. If it’s not in the blog already, I’ll put it there. Consider this the world’s longest lasting and slowest ask me anything session. Seriously. Ask me anything. If it’s spam or offensive it will be annihilated in the blazing hellfire of my delete button. If I don’t have the answer I’ll either point to a better resource that might have an answer. Or I’ll recruit Zombie Cat to answer. The cat gets pretty snarky but will come up with some kind of Tarot answer for almost anything. The cat and I tend to answer in the form of blog posts but don’t worry, I always always always protect everyone’s identity.
Which is a good policy place to start: privacy. I don’t talk about clients and I don’t share your contact information with anyone. I don’t even keep records older than 30 days. Readings tend to be less useful as time goes on and things change. Updating your contact information each time and asking you for a question, topic, or permission for an open reading each time is how I form a connection to your energy and your specific message. Once I make the shift out of clairvoyant mode into normal mode, I don’t remember details about the reading very well. This kind of Tarot is like the pre-technology psychic equivalent of telegram or something like that.
That’s what ephemeral means when I say that I do Tarot exclusively as an ephemeral folk art service. It was never intended to last a long time. Yes, it is so called entertainment only, but it really is spiritual guidance and emotionally engaging and uplifting and inspirational and empowering and stress relieving and so much more. I’ve called art with heart for the past 30 years and in my experience that has proven true. There is a certain emotion and spark created in each unique individual reading, that can’t really be re-created. With each passing moment, one reading fades and a new connection with energy, spirit and universe sparks into being. Because of that constantly changing, ephemeral nature of this kind of work, exchanges are impossible. You know all of this going into a Tarot reading, so no refunds are available. That being said, I promise to work with you to make a reading as enjoyable and helpful as possible. Every email reading includes a follow up email at no extra charge for any questions or clarifications. To paraphrase the ebook “I want to show you the art of Tarot and this blog is my portfolio.”
There is more. Policy is pretty boring, so let’s stop there for now. I’ll bore you to tears with more of this on another day.
Thanks for listening so far! Next time it will be a little juicer when we talk about predicting the future.
The socials are going to be quiet this week but stay tuned here to the blog and podcast. It’s turning out to be a good week for bigger reads and behind the scenes.
If you are enjoying this peek into what life is like on the Clairvoyant’s side of the Tarot Table or if you enjoy the usual short sip posts, please be sure to follow the blog, follow the podcast, follow the socials (links are on the blog homepage) like, share, and support the blog and podcast on ko-fi.
You don’t just see with your heart. Look with your heart and you see with compassion.
There are many ways to see, including with your heart.
Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. Thank you so much for reading and listening. I appreciate it.
I still haven’t done the review I wanted to write for the blog, but I wanted to get my hands back on the Alleyman’s Tarot deck today. Today’s energy wanted to speak through this particular card it seems. It’s the ten of eyes, a card from the strange suit, some of the non-standard cards that are part of the Alleyman deck’s genius. It was originally drawn by Bobby Abate for the Outsider Tarot deck. My read today differs from the meaning given in the guidebook – but you’ll have that. Guide books are important. They provide context, intent, and inspiration. In the lore Seven Dane Asmund created around the deck, the Alleyman wrote his own guidebook with notes on this own organically mismatched deck. In essence, that is what intuitive style readers do all the time. We write each card meaning in the moment guided by energy and insight that changes day by day, sometimes hour by hour. To call a Tarot reading ephemeral folk art is an understatement, but it’s the best descriptor I know for the actual process.
But back to the Ten of Eyes.
Like almost all cards, this one has multiple threads of meaning, and it is up to pure intuition to see which thread best resonates with the current energy environment.
At first glance, this could be read like the ten of pentacles or ten of coins just superficially based on the round shapes. That could connect with the aspect of the Waite Smith Ten of Pentacles that has to do with our greatest treasures being the intangible ones that money can never buy. The ten eyes could conceivably see through physical wealth to those invaluable intangibles.
The image on this card doesn’t really reflect the super-happy good outcome vibe that goes with the classic Smith art and the ten of coins however.
The Alleyman’s guide interprets it as, essentially, doom scrolling.
Don’t get me wrong. I love a hot cup of “I told you so” flavored schadenfreude as much as the next person. Especially with the great American political dumpster fire of twenty aught fifteen to the present day. Everybody loves to see the bad guys get theirs, both in fiction and in politics. But it can be taken to extreme. The Ten of Eyes is a cautionary tale, to not let news get to you personally. USE the information, yes, but don’t let it change you or affect you. Don’t let information make you bleed out of the eyes as the movie and anime trope goes.
The message I’m getting today differs from both of these. The message has come through before, but I don’t remember when or which card.
Look with your heart.
The part of this card that most catches my attention is the sheer number of eyes.
So.
Many.
Eyes.
Intuition and mental clairvoyance is often represented by the so-called third eye. I think we have other eyes too. There are the physical ones, of course, for our literal sight. The third eye speaks to intuition and mental images. That is mind-sight. But what of emotional or spiritual sight?
Often intuition is conflated with spirituality, but intuition serves us all no matter what our spiritual framework may be. Raging egos and scam artists can still be psychic to some degree. Intuition is a normal human faculty that could arguably had evolutionary advantage. I like Neil Degrasse Tysons description of the sixth sense and exactly that. A functional, purposeful, useful function of human existence like, I believe it was his grandmother, who know just when to propare supper and how many places to set even without tangible, five-sense knowable input.
The heart governs both physical and mental sight with emotional and spiritual sight. Look with your heart and see both physical and mental inputs through a lens of compassion and kindness. That guides not so much what we see but what we do about what we see, what we know, what we learn, and all the information we take in about our world.
So go ahead. Doom scroll. Sip that schadenfreude. Unleash all of your glorious human curiosity on whatever is out there. Gaze upon the world but be aware of the filters you (and other people) place on what you see. Then filter that through the one lens that really counts – kindness.
I hope you are enjoying these (almost) daily Tarot contemplations that happen in the time it takes to sip from your coffee.
It’s that renew-the-website time of year, so any support you can give through the TaoCraft Tarot page on ko-fi is greatly, appreciated. Shop purchases, exclusive content memberships, private reading commissions and virtual coffees all contribute toward making this blog and podcast possible.
No appointment is needed for private email readings, which are my specialty by the way.
Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.
Today’s card is the queen of cups. Queens represent a nurturing, caretaking sort of leadership. The suit of cups is associated with the element of water, with emotions and with our closest circle of relationship. Most of the time this card seems to point to deep inner knowing that requires a quieting of emotions to reach. The queen’s gaze into the cup is said to symbolize plumbing the depths of human emotion and our subconscious psyche for important guidance and answers to life’s dilemmas.
But like every card, the queen of cups has strings of keywords and connotations that have been attached to it over time. Psychic ability is one of those common associations, but that is the opposite side of the world from today’s energy.
Today is more about calm and clarity and a sense of emotional harmony. Today is focused on the prerequisites for intuition, not psychic ability itself.
“Emotional healing” is another of those accumulated key concepts for the card. I see a problem with the whole notion of “emotional healing.” The word healing implies that healing is needed. It implies that emotions can be somehow broken or diseased, literally ill-at-ease.
But, on the other hand, just because an emotion is difficult doesn’t make it dysfunctional, broken or wrong.
You can’t fix what isn’t broken. You can’t heal that which is already healthy.
The emotion itself isn’t the problem. Our relationship with that emotion, however, can become broken and problematic. Giving old trauma or future outsized control over our present moment can be one such problem. Expressing honest emotion in unhealthy ways is another. It’s normal to be afraid in frightening situations. It is normal to worry about risk when it exists. It is normal to feel regret, sadness, grief, and feel the entire spectrum of emotion. What you do with those normal natural emotions is the key of it, not the feelings that naturally bubble up.
There is a serene quality around the Queen of Cups card. It reminds me of the example from the Tao Te Ching. Stirring muddy water or trying to see through muddy water doesn’t really help much. But if you wait…if you abide with the muddiness and let it be what it is…then with a little time the mud will naturally settle and things will become clearer and better again.
Difficult emotions are what they are just like muddy water is what it is. Sit with them as they are, and they will settle as sure as gravity pulls the mud from water. The emotions are what they are. The healing comes from how we relate to them.
Here I am reminded of Dharma Drum Mountain, a Chan Buddhist education center in Taiwan and their website where they offer this strategy for dealing with problems in the 21st century:
Face it : face the difficulty squarely Accept it : accept the reality of the difficulty Deal with it : deal with the difficulty with wisdom and compassion Let it go : afterwards, let go of it
This card suggests that this strategy for dealing with problems might be a good strategy for a healthy relationship with our normal, day to day emotions
I shouldn’t have to end this post with a disclaimer, but times being what they are, it’s necessary. Tarot has no place in medical or mental health care. I’m in no way talking about real illnesses. This isn’t about clinical depression or anxiety disorder or any other genuine mental health concern. This blog, podcast, and Tarot writ large is a tool for growth and for day to day stress management. Tarot is a normal natural way to do that. Getting real mental health help if and when you need is a normal, natural thing to do too.
It’s ok to not be ok. It’s ok to be ok too. Heal what needs healed, and abide in peace with that which is unbroken.
Thank you so much for listening. TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot contemplation for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. If you enjoy these (almost) daily Tarot readings and the other Tarot content please support this work through the TaoCraft Tarot page on ko-fi where you can be a Patron of the Tarot Arts and receive exclusive access to members only content, tarot how-to, special offers and more. Links are in the episode description for podcast listeners.
TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today: Strength from the major arcana and revisiting reversals
Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot for your day in the time it take to sip from your coffee.
Today’s card is Strength from the major arcana, inverted.
This is another good chance to give my standard issue speech about inverted or reversed cards. Reversed cards are ones that turn over upside down relative to the person doing the reading.
The relative to the person doing the reading part is, to my thinking, much more important than the upside-down, reversed or inverted part. The card is perfectly fine as it lies. I don’t mean to go all Obi-wan on you, but the reversal is specific to a certain point of view. To the person across the table, the card is right side up. The card is the card, the only difference is how you look at it.
The tradition is to change the meaning of a card to its opposite when it turns up reversed. Usually that so-called opposite is really the darker, less socially popular, or negative side of the card.
As I see it, that flip flop in the meaning runs the risk of letting a certain toxic positivity leak into our readings. Right side up cards are a bit easier to read from a pure physiologic, visual standpoint. I don’t know about you, but I have an innate bias toward right side up cards, just as a matter of identifying what the heck you are looking at.
Depending on where you stand in the room, all cards are always right side up or upside down. All the cards are always everything and that is part of Tarot’s inherent value. Tarot has value in the way it opens our mind and our thinking to all the possibilities, even the hard to look at upside down ones.
All the cards are everything all of the time.
My favorite quote from the original 90s version of the movie The Craft is from the scene where the bookstore owner explains the nature of magic and spells to the protagonist Sarah “True magic is neither black or nor white – it is both because nature is both. Loving and cruel all at the same time … the only good or bad is in the heart of the witch. Life keeps a balance on its own.”
Connect that to the yin-yang symbol and Taoist philosophy and you know why I named this website and podcast what it is.
So if reversed cards don’t represent a thing and it’s opposite or some sort of positive vs negative duality, what do reversed cards tell us?
Sometimes, nothing.
I read reversed cards as meaning that there is something up with how the card’s meaning is being used or manifested in life. There is something blocked or turbulent or glitchy with the energy flow that the card and its position within a layout represents.
Author Scott Cunningham is known for saying “The feeling is the power” If you are feeling strong today great! Have at it!
If not, that’s fine. No one has the capacity to be perfect every moment, and we certainly don’t feel that way every moment.
The Strength card always has an element of trusting yourself. If you are feeling strong, then you have to trust it to use it. If you are not feeling strong, then you still have to trust yourself. It is a matter of trust that your inner strength is still there, still fully functioning.
Do the thing. You don’t have to like it. You don’t have to enjoy it. You don’t have to act happy about it when you aren’t. You can, however still do what needs done because your strength is more than it feels.
Thank you for reading and listening!
The blog, podcast, and youtube channel are not monetized and depend on your support. Please visit the TaoCraftTarot ko-fi page to become a member of the TaoCraft Tarot Table and be a patron of these Tarot arts. Of course, your likes, subs, shares, follows and reading orders through the blog website are always, always appreciated.
Hello and 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 Ten of Swords.
There’s no way around it. The Ten of Swords is kind of a dire looking card. In the classic Waite Smith deck, you have some dude face down on the ground with a whole collection of swords sticking out of his back. That can’t be good.
It’s not.
Nor is it intended to be.
Tarot wouldn’t be a useful life guide if it was all rainbow sprinkles and fairy dust because life itself isn’t a collection of vanilla scented unicorn farts. Stuff happens. Like the three deer that just walked through the yard and past my window. Hello ladies.
Life is random, just like that. And it doesn’t always bring a few sweet natured neighborhood deer.
Sometimes the Ten of Swords is about persistence. Sometimes it talks about energy akin to that proverb “fall down seven times get up eight.” Persistence is not quite the vibe today. Today is more about zombie emotions.
I forget exactly how it came up in the conversation, but a reading for a client recently reminded me of a quote attributed to Sigmund Freud. He said that “Unexpressed emotions never die. They are buried alive and come forth later in uglier ways.” You know. Zombie feelings.
It is also said that doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result is the essence of insanity not to mention a good way to create zombie feelings.
Choose your battles wisely. If we persist in just getting up time and time again it not only gets a little crazy from the repetition, it also buries the emotions about the situation in a heap of blind effort.
It sounds crazy, but sometimes you have to face the swords in your back. The first step in fixing something is admitting it is broken, not by burying the broken-ness under a veneer of repeated effort.
Yes, by all means persist, but not like that.
No one is going to thing less of you if you take a minute to get your bearings, asses the situation and figure out something different to try next time. If they do, that’s on them for being judge-y and awful, not on you for being honest with yourself about your situation and how you feel about it.
Take minute, reassess, identify the problems and feel the feels. If you ask me, using the swords in your back to slay zombie emotions sounds like a pretty persistent, get-up-eight kind of thing to do.
Thank you so much for listening! I appreciate you and any likes, subs, shares and follows that you can spare. The blogcast and youtube channel are not monetized, so they depend on your support through your no appointment needed Tarot readings purchases and Tarot Table memberships on ko-fi.
TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip from your coffee
Hello and 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 Hanged Man from the major arcana portion of the Tarot Deck.
Major arcana cards are about the major life lessons, about the twists and turns life can take. Sometimes they are guidance for a big choice you have to make, but in this case, it can be more along the lines of a general wake up call. That’s the kind of energy around today.
There was an episode of TV show we used to watch where the mom of the family was YouTube famous for a few days because of a video of her yelling “knock it off!” at her kids. She was the “knock it off” lady.
That’s the vibe the Hanged Man has today. Major arcana cards can be just that blunt and to the point sometimes. They are most often the cards to give the frying pan over the head kind of messages. I always enjoy it when Tarot drops the diplomacy and tells it like it is.
To borrow from another bit of pop culture, this kind of vibe is a little like the scene in the 1990 movie Ghost where the ghost, speaking through a psychic, asks psychic Oda Mae to be tactful and gentle when she talks to the bereaved character Molly. So of course, she gently and famously says “Molly, you in danger, girl.”
This card isn’t telling you that you are in danger, but it is telling you to knock it off.
If you think that life is stuck and not making any progress, whose expectations are being frustrated? Neil DeGrasse Tyson said that “The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.” Even more so, the universe is under no obligation to operate according to your timeline. The major arcana cards specialize in difficult life lessons. “It’s not about you” is one of those lessons.
So if you are feeling stuck or frustrated, the Hanged Man’s gentle, diplomatic advice is to KNOCK IT OFF! The universe is under no obligation to work according to your calendar.
Thank you for reading, listening and watching. The blogcast isn’t monetized and depends on your support. Email Tarot readings purchased on this website and Tarot Table memberships on ko-fi contribute to creating these (almost) daily Tarot readings for you. Any likes, subs, shares and follows that you can spare are always appreciated too.
Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot contemplation for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. I’m glad you are here.
Today’s card is The Star from the major arcana.
Birds of a feather flock together. Like attracts like. You are what you eat.
Adages and Proverbs become adages and proverbs because they have proven themselves true for a long, long time. And they tend to apply to a variety of situations.
That whole birds of a feather, like attracts like thing is huge advice for lonely hearts in search of a soulmate. In other words, be the soulmate you want to bring into your life. Do you want the romance of your life to be with a person who is all tied up knots and focused solely on their own feelings or would you rather be with someone who is happy and engaged with life? Be the bird you want to feather with.
It isn’t all soulmates. Like attracts like applies to many other things too. It begs the question of what, exactly, attracts you.
Human beings, it seems, are absolute geniuses for projection and confirmation bias. We see our own desires and our own opinions everywhere we turn. Who you follow, the things you support, the things that inspire you tells the outer world as much about you as much as those things tell you about the outer world.
Curate your inspirations. Actual conversations with actual people aside, would you want to have your social media “likes” as real world meat-space friends? Would you want to be part of their group?
Social media platforms are literally called a feed. We consume media. What would happen to your body if you constantly fed on toxic things? Why would you take any less care with the media you consume? Block and unfollow buttons are powerful protectors is you use them.
I love my social feeds. I’ve met beautiful, kind, wise people from opposite ends of the continent that I never could have met otherwise. Instagram is especially fun since I tend to be a bit visual. My feed is filled with artists, photographers, poets, Taoism, meditation, witches, civil rights groups, some of the best Tarot readers out there, recipes, coffee memes and a fair bit of yarn porn.
There are some pretty wonderful things out there in cyberspace, not just doom and gloom. Of everything out there, what things grab your attention? Who inspires you? The Star card reminds us to take care that those things and people are worthy of our attentions and our aspirations.
Thank you for reading, listening and watching. The blogcast and youtube channel are not monetized and depend on your support. Email Tarot purchases and Tarot Table memberships contribute toward creating TaoCraft Tarot online content. Your likes, subs, shares and follows are always appreciated too.
See you at the next sip!
The deck pictured is Steampunk Tarot by Barbara Moore and Aly Fell used with permissions granted on llwellyn publidhing dot com.
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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