Tag: Sage Snow

Action Eases Anxiety: Hard Road to Wisdom

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What it is (left)

THE COFFIN: Something has ended. No one decides the depth of that loss for you but you. Grief and sadness are valid emotions. Honor them as you see fit for as long as you need.

The platitude “don’t be sad that it’s over, be glad that it happened” rings as profoundly toxic and wrong-headed here.

No one gets to tell your emotions but you. They are yours to be named, faced, and released in your own good time.

It isn’t a matter of healing. This assumes with great hubris that the processes of grief and loss are unhealthy. The feelings aren’t unhealthy. Processing them, sitting with them, feeling them IS the healthy thing. Suppressing them, bottling them, ignoring them, smothering emotions in toxic positivism….THAT is the thing that needs healed.

It’s hard to trust in the face of profound losses. Fault or blame is of no value. Even if you can’t trust others enough to share your emotions with them, trust yourself enough to feel them, face them – and survive the experience of it.

What to do (right)

THE LILIES: I don’t know how it is in other cultures, but in the Appalachian evangelical culture where I was born, lilies are a common flower for funerals. It has an almost exclusively religious meaning in that context. It was always connected to Christian symbolism like redemption, resurrection, a return of the soul to heaven – a litany of things that hold no truth or significance for me individually.

If those things are meaningful for you here, please, by all means embrace them in any way that they help you.

I think there is another message here, drawn from the general symbolism of giving flowers, any flowers, as a gesture of good wishes. We give flowers as a message of sympathy, condolences, love and support for those who grieve at a funeral, but we also give flowers in celebration of holidays, birthdays. They are a part of weddings for good reasons. This is the energy I see around the lilies card.

It is a reminder of the whole spectrum of human emotions. Flowers are a reminder of all we feel and all that is possible. Loss of any kind is never easy. Grief exists within its own timeline and it exists side by side with all the other emotions in life.

It takes particular strength to choose the flowers of love and compassion from the bouquet of everything that life hands us. Choosing kindness toward your own emotions and that of others is a beautiful flower within our humanity. Choosing compassion in the face of loss is perhaps the hardest thing to do, the hardest flower to grow.

Wisdom is always hard-won.

Deck: Healing Light Lenormand by Christopher Butler copyright 2021 all rights reserved, used with permissions listed on llwellynpublishing.com

Today’s Tarot: You know what to do

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HIGH PRIESTESS: Trust what you know, then do it. Spiritual power is greatest when you feel it, but it is still there even when you don’t. Some days, there is no grand mystery. Some days, just going through the motions is plenty enough. Ritual is never empty when it is mindful of the present moment.

May is both National Meditation Month and Mental Health Awareness Month. Tarot is part of both.

There have been countless times that I’ve seen jaws unclench, shoulders drop and frowns disappear in a Tarot reading.

Tarot can offer you a peaceful moment in troubled times.

This month I’m returning to where it all started: One Card Daily Meditation style readings. You can order a personalized meditation style Tarot reading by email or you can learn to do them for yourself with PeaceTarot: Tarot as a Way to Peaceful Thoughts in Troubled Times, available for download in the TaoCraft Tarot ko-fi shop.

Action Eases Anxiety: Any Beginning

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What it is: The Fool. It may not be the opportunity that you wanted, but it is the second chance that you need. Only you can walk through an open door. No one can do it for you. Some journeys we have to begin alone. Don’t let fear of being alone stop you. Walk your walk, and your tribe will find you along the way. I intuitively ‘hear’ the Annie Lennox version of the song “Sisters are doing it for themselves.”

What to do: Seven of Swords. Take action. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Use your logic, intellect, and resourcefulness to the max. No one is going to save you but you.

Today’s Tarot: Meditation Comes To You

Sage Sips is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee

May is both National Meditation Month and Mental Health Awareness Month.

Tarot can play a part in both. This month, I’m returning to where it all began with daily meditation style Tarot readings on the Sage Sips main blog, the Substack and the socials. Your private readings, memberships and virtual coffees all support these free collective Tarot readings.

EIGHT OF PENTACLES: Meditation meets you where you live. It can be found in almost any simple, repetitive task. The mindless can be a portal to the mindful.

I’ve quoted Alan Watts so many times before, but it applies here again – “Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.“

True to Tarot, even the earthy, ground oh-so-practical Pentacle cards have a spiritual side. Pentacle spirituality is particularly akin to Zen and Taoist spirituality.

Simple productivity can feed your soul as much as a job feeds your bank account and in turn your stomach. That isn’t to say that your job has to be ultra spiritual. Any work can be of service and finding a job that you love is a treasure beyond money.

Feeling and being productive improves mood: Action eases anxiety, literally.

Easy, repetitive, ‘mindless’ activity is relaxing. No wonder things like knitting, crochet, jogging, hiking, gardening, sports of all sorts are all popular hobbies. Anything that occupies your hands and body while bringing your mind to the moment at hand is meditation. In these million different ways, meditation meets you right where you live if you allow it to be there. Meditation meets you where you live and brings a little mental health help right along with it.

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

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Choose Your Own Tarot: Contemplate the Upside Down

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Pause the video.

Take a deep breath and relax. Think about a question for the cards or think about your week ahead. Follow your first impulse and choose a card.

Restart the video to see your card and get the reading below:

The World (reversed)

I don’t always read a lot into reversed cards. If you think about it, it is right side up for someone sitting across from you. It’s a perspective thing. Reversed cards always ask for a little extra thought about context and perspective. Sometimes it can be a cue that a particular energy or topic or part of life is turbulent or blocked. Sometimes the context is this deck is printed on very glossy cardstock and chucks out reversals all of the time that don’t necessarily carry meaning.

In this case, the reversal is, intuitively, screaming for attention. It means something. The world is a major arcana card so it is a cue to high energies, key messages, possibly life lessons close around you.

The World is the final card in the major arcana suit. It has connections to completion, success, wholeness. It is also connected to connection…everything touches everything, and every part in a way contains the whole, touches the whole, hologram style. The card is pointing to this gestalt, holistic thinking today.

I’m not usually a heavy metal music fan, but thanks to family members I’ve heard some and “The Future is a Foreign Land” by Ghost, especially the part with the lyrics “when it all burns down.”

What do you do when your world has been turned inside out and upside down? What do you do when the person you thought was the one person who would be there for you when it all burns down is the one lighting the match?

Time may seem desperate, but when you get to the end of the major arcana then you go back to the Fool card and begin again, heartbreak and all.

Four of Cups

The pouring cup gets all of the attention here.

This is why I love the Alleyman’s Tarot deck. Sometimes it is profound. Sometimes it makes you feel “wut?”

That disconnected, ‘it’s just not resonating’ feeling is an element of the message today. The baseball imagery just isn’t getting it for me today…but that’s the message. It’s not about me.

And your concern may not be about you.

To be psychological about it, this is about intention and control. Despite our best intentions, we can’t control other people. You could pour a tanker truck of love and energy out but you can’t make someone feel any certain way. As the old proverb says: You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink.

Cups cards are about emotions. Regardless of the response, to love is the victory. To love is the means and the ends and all that matters. Pour your cup of love, hopefully it will water the roots of a tree rather than wet the feet of a statue.

Thank you so much for watching and reading.

I wish you all a deep drink of love and wholeness.

See you at the next sip!

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

Action Eases Anxiety: Landing

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What it is: Strength.

In this case, a test of your strength. Your patience and perseverance are being tested. Failure is always an option. It shows where to get help if you need it. It shows where you need rest and support. The test can show you weak spots before they break so damage can, hopefully, be avoided or lessened.

What to do: The World.

Finish. Complete the tasks at hand. Don’t change horses mid stream. Focus on the end goal and the big picture. There is a sense of reassurance. Success is possible if you see things through to the end. Think of an airplane. Things may be turbulent now, but focus on bringing this stressful time in for a safe landing. A pilot once told me that “any landing you walk away from is a good one.”

Deck:Alleyman’s Tarot by ‎⁨@publishinggoblin1072⁩  used with permission

How Distance Tarot works

Sage Sips is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee. Today please enjoy this behind the scenes look at how I believe long distance Tarot actually works.

Q: The email readings sound interesting, but how can you read me if we aren’t together?

A: The distance between us doesn’t matter because I’m not reading you directly, I’m reading universal energy or spirit for you, on your behalf. This is the same kind of universal life energy that they talk about in Reiki, Tai Chi, qi gong, acupuncture, yoga, etc. This energy is everywhere, and if you are still alive you are connected to it and a part of it. You and I are within that energy field during your reading, no matter how physically separated we might seem or how long our conversation takes.

Star Wars wasn’t far off with “The Force”

Time and space are a connected thing. Modern physics has called it the space-time continuum. Time is as whole and connected as space. It doesn’t matter if our reading together unfolds in real time across a table or in a phone call or if the conversation unfolds slowly though emails or snail mail, the core ideas are the same. Distance Tarot works with the biggest of big pictures. We might be on opposite sides of the Earth and still be in the same energy together. We might write paper letters back and forth like they did a hundred years ago but the reading is still helpful even if takes months to unfold. It is all interconnected and valid.

The words and ideas of any reading are exactly the same regardless of whether I say them out loud, type them into an email or write them on paper.

There are a few differences between distance and in-person readings. The first is the way that you enjoy receiving your message, not in the message itself. It might depend on your mood or personality style. Phone or in-person sessions tend to be light, chatty, and friendly. They are great for when you are feeling outgoing and craving some social conversation.  Written readings are private and intense. Written words amplify the emotion and magic of the moment. They are a good match for book lovers and busy, stressed people who need a moment to relax or anyone who just wants a little ‘me time.’

All of my distance Tarot readings include a follow-up email to answer any questions you might have.

The best suggestion I have is to give it a try. My five card readings would last close to an hour in person, but only cost what most psychics charge for 15 to 30 minutes.

Starting January 2025, the business portion of TaoCraft Tarot that offered in-person, party, phone and live online Tarot readings has closed.

Email readings are still available at very affordable prices and no appointment needed. Private readings, ko-fi memberships and ko-fi virtual coffee all support this blog, this website and the Substack newsletter to keep these Tarot readings free for you to read without paywalls.

Action Decreases Anxiety: Acknowledge

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Left (the current situation or energy) Four of Pentacles: Hoarding out of fear vs budgeting, taking care, setting boundaries. Does the real-world part of life triggering fear or does it need a little practical management right now? Diane Morgan read the four of pentacles as “secret treasure” Sometimes our greatest treasure is to ground ourselves, move past fear and work through the fear.

Right (what to do next, a good next step) Nine of Swords. Whenever the right card is a swords card, the reading is in the title. Swords symbolize action (among other things) Avoid toxic positivity. It is ok to not be ok. There will be dark times. Actively manage your stress. To manage stress or worry or anxiety or any problem, the first step is to acknowledge it exists. That acknowledgement may feel hopeless and overwhelming, but it is just the first step in solving the problem.

Here, my mind is drawn to some of the panic and anxiety management techniques I’ve seen on social media lately. Both cards point to that kind of energy and action today. If you are worried or anxious, ground yourself in the present moment and your environment. Send yourself a clear message that you aren’t in life or death danger in this specific present moment.

Dan Harris, one of the most practical, accessible, down-to-earth, meditation advocates I’ve ever read describes mindfulness as the capacity to notice. Those social media anti-anxiety techniques draw on exactly that. Use your ability to notice. Try naming five things that you can see. Try naming a pleasant sensation you can experience right now (a soft shirt, a cool breeze, the feel of your feet on the floor, the smell of your coffee…anything) Think of one thing that is going right that you can be thankful for (my coffee is still warm, a glimpse of blue sky, a song on the radio…anything) Think of someone, anyone, and mentally wish them well. Think of yourself and wish yourself peace and safety. Buddhist meditators call those last two Metta practice.

Noticing is an action, albeit a mental one. That still counts. Action decreases anxiety.

Thanks for reading. See you at the next sip!

Week Ahead: Choose Your Card

Sage Sips is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee

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Pause the video and think of your question or the week ahead. Choose your card, left or right. Restart the video to see the reveal and get your free tarot reading below.

7 of Cups: Choices are important and may feel stressful and overwhelming. Start with logic, but if all practical things seem equal, let your intuition and instincts lead the way. The up side of this is that multiple choices exist – at least you aren’t painted into a corner with few choices at all. When there are many options, especially when they all seem equal, it can all be very overwhelming. Sometimes being the one to have to make a hard choice alone is an overwhelming burdon, even when the choice seems clear. Choices and options can be intimidating in any combination of circumstances. If you are facing a big choice or have too many options, your head and heart have to work together. If logic fails, let your heart lead the way. In the end, clarity is crucial however your sort it out. Focus on the end. Choose your destination and the way to get there will become more clear.

King of Wands: Wands have to do with the fire element. King cards speak to leadership. Good leaders start with compassion and wisdom, but kings can’t rule without a kingdom. King cards often represent protecting and providing for the place where they rule. Wands can also symbolize your relationship with yourself. Remember your agency over your own life. Own it, mistakes and all. This is a good week to tap into as much main character energy as you can muster. Write your own story, lead your own inner kingdom. Combine wisdom and compassion with confidence and skill. Set boundaries and enforce them.

Thanks so much for reading! See you at the next sip!