sage sips blog – Page 16 – Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot

Just say no

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I low key despise insipid platitudes.

But I will, begrudgingly, admit they sometimes have utility.

Most of the time, pithy little adages are either a shorthand reminder of something bigger. They also can also be empty headed, hollow, shallow and avoid the depth and complexity of a situation.

The Reagan era “Just say no” campaign was exactly the latter.

But today, in a vastly different context, it actually has a little bit of utility.

Today’s card is the six of inking balls (“Holy inkballs, Batman!) from the Strange Suit of the Alleyman’s Tarot deck (Jost Amman Deck, Museum of Tarot and Playing Cards)

The artwork says it all about this card. It asks who is the dunk-er and who is the dunk-ee and that it probably doesn’t matter because everyone is getting drenched anyway.

At heart, the card is about feeling overwhelmed. When you feel out of control, or just way out of your depth, who put you there? Or, more importantly, how do you prevent winding up there the next time?

Just say no has a place. It isn’t in dealing with the complexities of chemical dependence but it has everything to do with setting healthy boundaries.

You are allowed to say no. Just plain no. If it makes you feel better to give some explanation or excuse, go ahead. But you have every right not to overextend yourself. You have every right to take care of yourself, regardless of what other people’s wants, needs, or rampant self-indulgence may be.

If you don’t say no, or allow no to be said to you, then things can get real inky and real messy real quick.

Thanks for reading! There are just 48 hours left to get your 2023 FREE Zombie Cat Tarot reading in the blog by leaving a question / comment here on the blog. Free Zombie Cat offer ends midnight eastern time 10-31-23.

See you at the next sip!

*all policies and disclaimers apply. All readings are for spiritual practice and personal enrichment, they do not predict the future.

Deck: Alleyman’s Tarot Deck by Seven Dane Asmund used with permission Publishing Goblin LLC

Ask Zombie Cat – get a Tarot reading (ends midnight Halloween 2023)

Leave a question for Zombie Cat in the blog comments and the undead feline will answer with a full yes/no Tarot layout in the blog.

Zombie Cat Tarot readings are 100% guaranteed to contain words and have a 50% chance of being dead wrong.

Valid for sagewordstarot.com blog comments only. Questions anywhere else will be totally ignored. Offer ends midnight eastern time 10-31-23. Entertainment only, does not predict the future.

Learn With Me: Lenormand Tarot, The Bear

Mama Bear meets Lenormand Tarot

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Today, two points jump to mind about the Lenormand Tarot deck as a whole rather than the Bear card specifically.

It is interesting that Lenormand has several cards with (non-human) animals as the whole focus and symbolism: bear, snake, birds or owls, fox, stork, mouse and fish. Marseilles / Visconti / RWS format decks have animals sprinkled through the deck but never as the primary or sole focus of a card. The closest is the Strength card which prominently features a lion, but it is more about the human’s interaction with the lion and the symbolism about strength and leadership that is associated with lions rather than the animal’s actual characteristics or behavior. Other than that, we mostly see the knight’s horses, a few dogs, an ox, a fish in a cup and a lobster taking a moonlight stroll on a beach.

There are two full decks that share a similar energy to Lenormand’s animal cards: the Medicine Cards oracle deck by David Carson and Jamie Sams and Animal Wise Tarot by Ted Andrews. I’m sentimentally attached to both of these decks because Medicine Cards was my first deck and entry point to reading any cards, Tarot or otherwise. I have always had great respect for Ted Andrews and his writings have been utterly influential and invaluable to me. I was so fortunate to meet him at one of his Animal Speak workshops around the time that Animal Wise Tarot was first published. There is a significant intuitive connection from between these decks and the Lenormand, more than typical RWS decks seem to have. This is the first I’ve noticed that energy-similarity since this is the first animal-symbol Lenormand card we’ve drawn.

The Bear card is about that well-known “mama bear” protectiveness, and begs the question of who protects you? Who do you need to protect? Where do you need to protect yourself better? Where are you too guarded?

The other thing that captures my attention is the 10 of clubs on the Bear card.

All 36 of the Lenormand cards have a playing card on them in addition to their primary symbol. Not all of the playing cards can be represented in the smaller Lenormand deck. Christopher Butler’s guidebook that came with this Healing Light Lenormand deck is oddly silent about the playing card references. I’m looking for more information about that part of the Lenormand cards and will update you later in the series.

In my book Peace Tarot, I give you an easy technique for using regular playing cards to find your Tarot daily meditation card meaning if you don’t have a Tarot deck to use. There is a link where you can buy a copy of Peace Tarot above the video if you are interested in learning more about DIY daily meditation style Tarot, that works even if you don’t own a Tarot deck. Using that method, the 10 of clubs connects with the 10 of wands, which is a different energy than the bear. The bear to my mind today is connecting with a major arcana energy much more akin to the Emperor card is also connected with strength and protectiveness. It is difficult to access that kind of major arcana vibe with the playing deck (we talk about that in Peace Tarot, too)

If you live in the South Hills area of Pittsburgh PA, USA keep an eye on your local library websites. I’ll be presenting a Tarot for relaxation workshop based on the information in Peace Tarot at a few locations this Fall. It’s a very inexpensive .pdf in the Sage Words Tarot Shop, I hope you’ll consider giving it a read.

In honor of 10 years of Peace Tarot and how meaningful and useful a daily meditation Tarot practice has been for me over 30 years of card reading, I’ve decided to return to daily meditation Tarot readings for the collective energy in the blog through New Year 2024 which will mark the one year anniversary of TaoCraft Tarot relaunching as Sage Words Tarot. I’ll decide then what, if anything is next. After all the upheaval in the world since the pandemic (politically since 2016 here in the U.S.) a return to some steadiness and simplicity is probably a pretty good idea.

Instagram and Threads is still the best social media to catch me if you want to actually interact. I’m Sage Words Tarot on all the socials (except Twitter – X . I quit that mess months ago) I hope you’ll follow along here, on the socials, on ko-fi or the Substack weekly newsletter. The newsletter happens on Thursdays. Next Wendsday “Learn With Me” will be back with a review of the Healing Light Lenormand deck as a whole thing that I bought – on sale from Llwellyn Publishing. Thanks for reading! See you at the next sip!

Enough Love

Ace of Cups: let compassion flow

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When a Sinkhole Stops Life’s Tour Bus

The Hanged Man, an ode to the Pittsburgh Pothole Bus

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You got to love Pittsburgh.

Where else does a sinkhole + a bus = a holiday ornament?

It’s been a heckuva four years since the sinkhole swallowed the bus. This October feels tame by comparison. But that’s OK – I’ll take it.

The Hanged Man card has been turning up a lot lately in a variety of contexts, both in private and collective energy readings. That kind of repetition is usually a good clue that there is a bigger, longer-lasting wave of energy trying to make itself heard.

There are a few different things that might be going on, but that’s typical for a major arcana card to have several threads of possible meaning. The best known meaning for the card is being stuck or stagnant. Sometimes it is about needing a change in perspective. Some authors connect the Hanged Man card with self-sacrifice. I haven’t seen that. If the Hanged Man has any not-the-usual vibes it is more like a caution about self-sabotage, that “you are shooting yourself in the foot” rather than a heroic sacrifice or advice to “take one for the team”

In this case, it might just be pure inertia. Newton’s first law says that something that is still will stay still until something else makes it move. Something that is moving will keep moving in the same direction until something else makes it move in a different direction.

Life has been moving in some odd directions since the bus thing. When the pothole happened, there was no known coronavirus in humans yet. Wrap your head around THAT. We’ve been craving quiet. We’ve been craving normal. We will never have the old normal back, but the pace has slowed down a bit and it seems relatively quiet. Slow might feel stuck or stopped in comparison to recent chaos. A speeding locomotive takes a long distance and a long time to slow down. My hunch is that we are all feeling the change in speed, but in the opposite direction from recent years. We are in a different place and can’t go back, but things aren’t moving forward as screaming fast as before, either.

It’s the ghost tour time of year too.

Have you ever been on a walking tour or a bus tour and the group stopped someplace of particular interest so that people could take pictures or spend a little extra time appreciating the featured thing? I get the feeling there is a little bit of that going on here too.

If life stops your tour bus, it’s because there is something that needs your attention.

If you are in traffic and all of a sudden your back wheels are stuck in a big hole, look around. What have you been zooming by and not seeing?

That trope applies to any repeating card. It’s boilerplate – if a card or a life experience (or both) keeps repeating, then there is something important that we are missing, some important lesson that we just aren’t learning.

If the Hanged Man comes to your reading or you are just feeling stuck the stuck part may not be the message. The message may be to slow down, stop and take a look. It may just be life tapping you on the shoulder reminding you to do the pocket pat down and check for your phone, wallet and keys and anything else important you might be missing.

Thank you for reading!

Email readings are OPEN all through the holidays. Zombie cat is doing free yes/no readings in the blog through October 31, 2023 if you leave a question in the comments.

Deck: Alleyman’s Tarot by Seven Dane Asmund and Publishing Goblin LLC used with permission.

Bus meme via imgur, bus image found via nbc news

Newsletter 10-19-23

newsletter day!

Consider it recycling. I’m saving the planet doing this, right?

Actually, this is me sticking to the plan for a change. Thursdays are newsletter days. Today’s substack newsletter uses the card from here yesterday. If this was made of paper I’d say we’re saving trees, but really it is just saving me a few headaches during a busy week.

Just a reminder:

Email readings are available to order 24/7 no appointment needed. Email readings are OPEN throughout the holidays (including Halloween!)
FREE Zombie Cat style yes/no readings until 10-31-23. See details below*
Subscribe to the free blog (right side of the screen on laptop, bottom of the page on mobile) to get everything in your inbox. If you want just a weekly digest, you can subscribe to the free Sage Sips Substack newsletter.
Please comment and let me know if you like the daily card or the week-ahead format better. I’ve always been partial to daily meditation one card readings. They are the most helpful most of the time unless a crisis hits or you need to make a big decision. Then the big layouts are the way to go. (Individualized one cards are more helpful than the collective energy one card posts, too)

Wishing you all a great weekend. See you at the next sip!

Learn With Me: Lenormand, promises kept

Lenormand Tarot and putting a ring on it

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Hello and welcome to Sage Sips blog: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee (or whatever you like to sip whenever you read this). I’m glad you are here.

Just a quick review: Every now and then I’ll post a series of blog posts where we learn a new Tarot deck, Oracle Deck, or other oracle device together. While I’ve been reading Tarot for (I can’t believe I’m saying this) 30 years now, I don’t know every deck in existence. Each deck of cards or divination method has its own character that is worth exploring. Of course there is always something to learn process wise. If a psychic isn’t still learning, how can clients learn from their readings? Learning is change, change is life.

As we go through these new decks and tools, I’ll show you the methods I’ve used to learn intuitive reading in general as well as learning the particulars of the new thing.

My hope is that this process will build your trust in me as a reader, so you can feel confident getting a professional reading but also (more importantly) I hope this process will build your confidence in your own intuition.

Just like decks that use the Marseille, Visconti, or RWS structure the artwork can vary wildly from deck to deck. I’m glad for artwork on the Healing Light deck for a couple of reasons.

First, color on black is one of my favorite aesthetics. Gold on black is a particular favorite – no surprise if you’ve ever seen sagewordstarot.com

Second, like many contemporary decks, it is a bit more abstracted and drops a lot of the religious imagery that was the norm in the Victorian Era but is anathema to a 21st century freethinker. Hurray for that.

Especially with the ring card.

The guide book connects the Ring with “religious vows” or “religious commitment when it is connected or adjacent to the Cross card. The two together gives an energy akin to the Hierophant or Pope card in RWS style decks.

It also can symbolize a mutual, loving commitment akin to the hand fasting or marriage connotations of the RWS two of cups.

Intuitively I want to synthesize both of those things.

Commitment is a two way street. You have to give to get, and you get what you give (cue the New Radicals song). A commitment born of blind faith and adherence where all you do is give cannot last. A commitment where you sit and expect to receive can not last either.

The idea of a “twin flame” that makes you happy or “completes you” comes to mind – and falls into that take-only second category.

The circle of the ring connotes wholeness.

Commitments are both people all in, both giving and receiving in moving dynamic symbiosis.

Cue all the symbolism of the Zen enso

Ahhhhh…I get it – cue a big cartoon light bulb hanging over our head.

The guide book for the Lenormand deck is minimal. The grand tableau layout is so broad as to be unfocused and unhelpful. Lenormand is direct and to the point because it forces us to read intuitively if we are going to read it at all. Its small deck and broad symbolism can meld to whatever the message of the moment may be. It’s strength lies in touching the emotions of the moment.

In the ring card alone we can branch out to the Pope, the Two of Cups, The Moon and more as needs be. Lenormand utterly relies on our intuition as much as it prompts or amplifies our intuition.

Interesting, to say the least.

Thank you so much for reading. If you like what you read here and on the socials, please consider supporting this free-to-access blog. Private readings, memberships and virtual coffee all help. Your social media shares are much appreciated too.

See you at the next sip!

More from the Three of Swords

Change on Pause

Like these collective energy readings? Private readings focused just on you are available to order HERE 24/7, no appointment needed.

I have a change in my day job schedule starting in November. Here’s the plan, such as it is.

Email Private Tarot is STILL open for orders 24/7, no appointment needed. Order anytime at the link above the video. Delivery times will vary depending on when your order comes through – I’m one real person doing real world readings for you, so holidays, nights and weekends slow things down a little bit.

In-person, phone and online readings are still by appointment only and schedule a few days in advance.

There are STILL free “Zombie Cat” Tarot readings in the blog now through October 31, 2023 for anyone brave enough to leave a comment (or use the Ask Me Anything page) with a nickname and question for the cards. It’s all just for Halloween funsies, entertainment only. Zombie Cat’s readings are 100% guaranteed to contain words and have 50% chance of being dead wrong

I’m dropping the week ahead readings (for a while, anyway) and returning to the old daily meditation Tarot reading format from the “Tarotbytes” blog days on Modern Oracle. The Wednesday Learn With Me series and Thursday newsletter won’t change.

These daily readings aren’t about any kind of “forecast.” Daily meditation is about right here, right now. This is meditative mindfulness. This card applies to you in your moment whenever you read this. Even though I’m reading the collective energies for today, spirit or synchronicity will bring you to the card whenever YOU need its message, no matter when that is. Psychic, intuitive information comes from outside of space and time anyway. That’s why distance Tarot readings are perfectly valid and why you can get real guidance from books and blogs no matter when you read them.

Now for today’s card: Death in reverse. Death means big life changes. Reversals hint at energy that is blocked or turbulent. Change blocked doesn’t mean Hanged Man style stagnation. This feels like a simple “wait a minute.”/

It’s OK to be OK

There is a sense of solid, practical, advice life advice here all wrapped up in an avalanche of proverbs and old adages:

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Let sleeping dogs lie. Watched pots never boil.

There is nothing wrong with striving to be better. There is nothing wrong with experimentation. But you have to know your results before you make further changes. Sometimes too many changes spoil the soup just as much as too many cooks can.

“Remember kids, the only difference between science and screwing around is writing it down.” – Adam Savage

There is an urge to charge out there and take the week by storm, grab Monday by the beans and constantly strive, eyes on the prize and all of that.

Sometimes that a good thing.

Sometimes it’s good to give it a rest and enjoy the beans instead of grabbing them.

Merry Monday everyone! Cheers!

Sage Sips: Tarot contemplation for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee.

Pictured- the author’s morning mug including home made caramel cream pumpkin pie spice.

Prickly Splatters Everywhere

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Social Media Update: With the advent of Threads, I spend most of my scroll time there these days. Threads and Instagram is the best place to actually interact. You are welcome to stop by and say hello. I post on FB, Tumblr, and TikTok, but don’t interact there very much. I will warn you that the Threads account has become a combination of Tarot posts and my ex-birdsite political and religious voidscreaming. But you probably know by now that secular humanism, Taoism, witchcraft, progressive/liberal politics and lgbtdq ally-ship is a big part of who I am and influences what I do here. If any of those things offend you then we wouldn’t be a good match for a Tarot reading anyway. But rest assured, no matter what you see on the Threads feed, I can set all of that aside and channel in the right energy message for you no matter what it says. That is what 30 years of experience will get for you. There are some advantages to being genX years old.

So what does that have to do with today’s card or Tarot at all? That gnarly online energy IS very much today’s energy and card. The growing energy from Monday has arrived. The Three of Swords has to do with sorrow, heartbreak, loss, pain and betrayal. The keyword betrayal steps forward with the most energy today.

This isn’t a good day to be expansive or ebullient unless the feeling is so strong that your happy emotion bubble can withstand a field of needles. The collective energy today feels prickly like trying to hug a porcupine. You may have all good intentions, the porcupine may be filled with love and kindness, but things are what they are. Being true to yourself and being true to your own nature can also mean facing up to hard realities. Your true self and other people’s true self isn’t always going to blend well. You don’t have to like everybody and not everybody has to like you. Oil is a part of nature. So is vinegar. That doesn’t mean that life has to be salad dressing. To borrow a phrase from Joseph Campbell, follow your bliss. But follow it knowing that not everyone has the same bliss.

Some people by their nature are counter to your nature. Deliberate and malicious or not, intended or not, it can feel like a betrayal when you hoped for some sort of relationship, but nature makes that difficult if not impossible.

There may be good intentions all around, but oil and water, bubbles and porcupines still happen. Some days just aren’t made for trying to make square pegs fit round holes and vice versa. This feels like one of those days.

To paraphrase another writer, John Le Carre, betrayal can only exist in the presence of love. You can only betray – or be betrayed by – those whose opinion you care about. You can’t be jabbed by the porcupines that you don’t try to hug.

Here my mind turns to some of those social media threads I’ve been reading lately. With the evangelical support for right wing politicians and the christian nationalist & “dominion theology” growing in our national awareness (and, arguably, growing as a threat to those of us with interests in Tarot or ANY spiritual path other than theirs)

There can be family betrayals, community betrayals, literal danger to vulnerable groups like our lgbtq loved ones. Like the meme says – you can’t say you love me then vote for someone who hurts me.

The Three of Swords reminds us that protecting oneself from real danger is an act of loving kindness too.

Which brings us back to yet another paraphrase of yet another author, G. Chesterson, who said “a [warrior] fights not because he hates what is in front of him but because he loves what is behind him.”

When religion tears apart families and communities the prickly energy splatters everywhere.

It’s hard to hug a heart that deliberately surrounds itself with swords. It’s ok not to impale yourself on the sharp edges.

Thank you for reading. Heavy energy, heavy ideas today. Thanks for contemplating it all along with me.

Next time: Energy path reading for October 9-15.

The Blog and social media will be on a short hiatus October 14-17, 2023. Email readings are OPEN but may experience delivery delays on those days.

See you at the next sip!