Tag: sage words tarot

Learn with Me: Oracle Dice, Act With Justice

Please remember me when you want an affordable, professional, ethical private Tarot reading. Email readings are available to order 24/7 no appointment needed. Sage Sips blog is fueled by your private readings, memberships and coffee – both irl and virtually on ko-fi. Thanks for reading!

 think the universe is telling me to stop screwing around and get back to Taijiquan and Qi Gong practice. Maybe not right this second, but you know, more often than lately. In addition to all of the physical and mental health benefits, martial arts is a spiritual happy place for me. I’ve only ever studied Chinese styles. It’s chicken or egg which came first: affinity for Taoist thought or Tai Chi classes, but they both are my happy place. When I’m not in yin magician mode, Yang warrior mode is the place to be. And I’ve noticed a fair bit of warrior archetype energy around lately.

First it was the Ace of Wands over the weekend:

(I really appreciate it when you follow the sage sips blog, follow the socials, like, share etc so you don’t miss any incidental stuff like this…Thanks!)

There is the obvious connection with today’s dice – the action die under the Knight of Action lord card.

The “judgement” face first turned up when we were rolling to find the 7 learning dice out of the 22 dice in the whole set. This die as a whole combined with the lord card is very much a blend of the Knight of Swords card blended with the major arcana Judgement card from the Tarot deck.

The card and the dice truly is active, and spurs action on our part but not movement for its own sake.

Think about kendo and kenjutsu martial arts. In the movies, we see master swordsmen begin utterly motionless as they seem to assess the situation and read their opponent. Even in action -packed movie choriography were we don’t see that element portrayed, things like Star Wars for example, thought is still part of the lore. Jedi knights listen to and follow the Force, even if that part seems to happen instantaneously with the blaster’s bolt.

This is very much the warrior’s discipline.

This isn’t action for action’s sake, doing something, anything just to avoid the feeling of doing nothing.

Don’t forget, listening, thinking, reasoning, judging, feeling are all things to do. Doing those things IS doing something.

And they are key somethings that set the warrior apart from a bar-room brawler. Discipline, thought, training, and self-control are all key. And they are all reflected in this die and card.

I am reminded of the G.K. Chesterson quote “a {warrior} fights not because he hates what is in front of him but because he loves what is behind him.”

In Tarot, swords are associated with mind and intellect as well as action. They represent authority and relationship with society and in doing so connect with compassion. Like the “fierce compassion” in Doctor Who’s “The Witches Familiar” episode.

The art on the card also reminds me of Bismouth Gem in Steven Universe, but I don’t remember the show well enough to make the connection here. I’ll leave that with you to decide if it brings anything to mind or resonates for you. Cool character as I remember, though.

“Actions begin within.”

It can be with the Samuri style stillness before acting in a sword fight. It could be a heart and emotion driven clarity about why you are fighting in the first place (as with the Chesterson quote) or it may be a vague feeling of discontent or a desire for change. Whatever the impetus is, change, action begins within. The brain has to initiate the neural inputs to the muscle if you want to be literal about it.

This die and card is a call to action but also a caution to act well. Act thoughtfully not blind willy-nilly do something for the sake of doing anything. The die-face we first saw looks like the scales of justice and is named judgement and those scales are made of a sword – a very potent combination calling us to thoughtful action and fierce compassion all in one.

Thanks for reading. Next time we’ll revisit this week’s energy path cards and update for the weekend. See you at the next sip!

Comfort on the surface and underneath

Sage Sips is Tarot for your day (or the week ahead) in the time it takes to sip your coffee (or whatever you like to sip this time of day)

Please think of me when you want an affordable, professional, ethical private Tarot reading. No appointment needed for email. This free Tarot content is fueled by your reading purchases, memberships, and coffee (irl & virtually on ko-fi)

Hi! Thanks for reading! I’m glad you are here.

This reading symbolizes our energy patterns through the week ahead. This particular layout is read right to left, opposite of how I turned the cards in the video. The first card shows energy that is drifting away, the middle card is the closest, largest energy around right now, while the left card shows the energy that is growing in influence. This kind of reading is closer to a weather report about the general energies right now. No predictions here. This gives you an idea of the energies ahead. It’s up to us to make the most of it, for better or worse.

The energies this week are pretty simple. Down to earth, grounded and balanced are always key words around pentacles. That is the suit in the majority today. It’s not so much a matter of head over heart. Practicality takes the lead over either one of those.

June is vacation season for families, with the kids fresh out of school. We are just past the July 4th holiday. Summer always seems to start off with frenetic hurry up and have vacation energy followed by hot doldrums. It feels a little like the doldrums are definitely setting in. It feels a little early compared to other years, but fitting for this year somehow. Sit in the shade, drink lemonade, and don’t push or pressure anything at the moment.

“Take comfort” steps forward as a the carry away message, at least for the first part of the week. After the vacations and picnics and typical flurry of activity, things are settling into a summertime routine. Take comfort in routine, in work, in something ANYTHING familiar that doesn’t ask much of you mentally or emotionally. The Zen spirituality of just peeling the potatoes comes to mind here in the spirit of my favorite Alan Watts quote. The eight of pentacles reflects this get down to business and do the thing energy.

Energies have been a little woo woo and ethereal with last week’s high priestess and memento mori vibes. The current energy brings that back into balance with two of pentacles. Just like the ace of swords yesterday…the current energy today also points to mind-body-spirit balance being a source of strength, and contentment.

The pendulum swings back later in the week from grounded and external to a little more esoteric and emotional. The page of cups reflects a return to fousing on feelings and emotions. The Page, gazing at a cup and the little fish that is said to be secrets or truths from the deep water, from the human psyche, reminds us to look for the hidden spirit behind the physical, the magic within the mundane.

Here’s the routine I’m aiming to take refuge in this week:

  • Tuesday: day job day – no blog or socials. Email readings are always OPEN no appointment needed.
  • Wednesday: Learn with Me – oracle dice and “lord cards” continues
  • Thursday – wild card (will post something if I have time)
  • Friday – weekend update. We’ll revisit these cards and see if and how they are unfolding and progressing.

Thanks again for reading. See you at the next sip.

“Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one peels the potatoes. Zen spirituality is to just peel the potatoes

Alan Watts

8 July 23: announcements and reminders

Remember that thing from the movie “if you build it they will come” ?

Well, it’s built.

I hope y’all will come read the blog, browse the archives, and ask questions.

On that last….

I’ve been hit with a few annoying ‘bots it seems, but I don’t want to shut out everybody, so I’m splitting the difference and requiring log in to comment. If you don’t want to do that, you can use the comment form on the “ask me anything” page instead.

I’ve also yoinked the like buttons. I appreciate the feedback, but honestly word of mouth about my readings and social media shares are more helpful than the ego boost of a ‘like.’ I’m hoping that will head some spammy shenanigans off at the pass too.

I have a healthy list of banned words, and will delete first and ask questions later if anything looks even a teeny tiny bit spam-ish … so if you aren’t getting a response with the AMA form or comments, feel free to contact me by email. That’s the fastest way to schedule and in-person or online reading.

Email Tarot doesn’t require an appointment, but everything else does. My schedule has changed a LOT compared to pre-covid, so live readings schedule around a week in advance now.

It isn’t captcha, but you humans should be able to navigate those few things.

Just a reminder, too, that the posts here are open to you under an attribution, non-commercial, non-derivative creative commons 4.0 international license. That means you can share it all you want BUT you have to credit me with writing it AND you can’t sell it or make money off of it. Fair enough, right?

NEW: I’m on Threads!

I’m also on Substack, but that is only the free Monday Energy Path readings as it stands now. If you want EXCLUSIVE content, discount email readings and on-request free one-card readings you’ll have to get a SAGE SIPS MEMBERSHIP on ko-fi

I’m still on all the same socials as before. Look for Sage Words Tarot on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Tumblr and YouTube. I mostly push to them from here, so if you want to really interact, Instagram or Threads is the best place to catch actual human me.

As always, thanks for reading. See you at the next sip!

Momento Mori

Today: The Death card and lofi chill

Please remember me if you ever want an affordable, professional Tarot reading. Private readings by email don’t need an appointment. This free Tarot content is fueled by reading purchases, memberships, and coffee (both irl and the virtual ko-fi kind). Your comments, likes and social media shares are always appreciated.

The August blahs are starting early this year.

I blame the hot, humid weather and suppressed rage at anyone who doesn’t care about global warming. Republicans and oil companies are going to get us all killed at this rate.

But I digress. Sort of.

It’s interesting how the collective energy sometimes is reflected in private readings or vice versa. It’s a little chicken and egg. People who come to me as clients contribute to the collective energy, which would explain some threads of similarity. At the same time these perceptive folks may be drawn to a reading because of the collective energy, which also explains similarities. Either way it always feels validating as a reader to see the collective show up in a private session or cards from private sessions repeat a time or two in collective readings.

The energy has shifted from death card to death card. It feels like the resistance to change from earlier has shifted to a sort of weary acceptance. It feels like instead of resisting the inevitable, we’ve slipped into a semi-comfortable expectation of a certain degree of upheaval. It feels like time to take a sippy sip of our soupy soup and calmly watch the mayhem unfold.

I like to think that is the essence of Sage Sips. Calm. Reassuring. If my Tarot style was described in music terms, I like to think it is LoFi Chill.

Stay safe, stay chill and stay hydrated. See you Monday for next week’s energy path reading.

Learn With Me: Oracle Dice, The Crone of Summer

Sage Sips blog is a contemplation for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee

I don’t know much about Dungeons & Dragons, but I’d call this character chaotic good.

This is a really lovable card, and it’s tempting to join the chaos, but I’m in full sun-avoidant deep shade forest baby Grogu sipping soup and calmly watching the mayhem unfold mood. You don’t always have to participate in order to appreciate.

Let’s stay methodical this week.

Tarot, or any good intuition enhancing too, has layers of meaning just like ogres and onions.

The first we looked at a single face from the dice – analogous to drawing individual cards for a Tarot layout. By randomly rolling seven times we selected 7 “practice dice” out of the 22 dice set to work with as we get to know the Oracle Dice. Learning the oracle dice parallels the way I learned Tarot. I’ve distilled YEARS of trial and error into this step by step thing we are doing. I’m learning the oracle dice this way because I KNOW this way of learning and reading oracle tools … any intuition helper…works. I know it works well because I’ve been doing it for a hot minute. Longer than I care to admit most days.

You get the idea about the individual faces and how to look at those.

Now we are going through our practice dice one by one looking at it from the die cube meaning. The Oracle Dice’s creator, Seven Dane Asmund assigned a name and meaning to each of the 22 dice (one of which is a cool 12 face die) In this edition, he also created a card with the “lord” of each of the dice. The “lord” in this case is a parallel to the suit in Tarot. The “lord” is the essence of die’s meaning, its guardian, its protector, sort of the ace, king and queen all rolled into one.

Today’s die is “summer” depicted as the “Crone of Summer.” It’s perfect that the image on the card includes gold coins because this card encapsulates much of the same energies as the suit of coin (pentacles) in Tarot. There is easy, almost careless generosity around it. It is so fully and unabashedly about the physical realm that it rises above the physical realm and becomes something more esoteric, much as the ten of pentacles (coins) is so fully prosperous and abundant that it points to the intangible treasures of love and happiness that money can never buy. Such is the effusive joi de vie embodied by the crone of summer.

You know how I see the world through Taoism colored glasses

The dots in the yin yang symbol represent the idea that anything in its extreme holds the seed of its opposite. We see that in the ten of pentacles and the Crone of Summer. The physical realm taken to its extreme can hold the seed of its opposite. In excess creation lies the potential for destruction. In excess possession lies the potential for generosity and so on.

When we move on to the next layer – combining dice – when the summer die rolls in, think of it in unabashed and golden terms like full throttle summer and an exuberant generosity of self and spirit

Thank you so much for reading. I appreciate your generosity with your time.

If you ever want a private Tarot reading, please think of me. The free Tarot and other content here on the Sage Sips blog and on Sage Words Tarot social media is fueled by your reading purchases, your memberships and lots of coffee (both irl and the virtual kind on ko-fi)

Your likes, follows, shares and comments are always greatly appreciated!

*Publishing Goblin‘s Oracle Dice used with permission

Learn With Me: Oracle Dice, Collector of Selves part 2

Time is an ingredient for learning.

Deep understanding is seldom instantaneous.

Sometimes you have to abide, sit with something for a while, squint at it and poke it with a stick before you can really integrate and use a new idea.

That is where I am with this die and lord card. Even after sleeping on it after a late night part 1 post, I still don’t have much to offer. I’m still in the squint and poke stage with the relationship die and its lord card, The Collector of Selves.

The basic “card meaning” level symbolism is easy enough. This is the relationship cube. I connect that with the relationship energies of Tarot’s suit of cups. This seems a little broader, encompassing any level of relationship, not just the cup’s intimate ones. This feels a little like the sword’s broader community and collegial relationships too.

My hunch is that it will make more sense once it is in context with other dice and on the reading cloth.

The Collector of Selves is interesting. I didn’t get it right away, but Mr. Asmund writes about masks and social roles a bit in the guidebook. The die talks about multiple levels of realationship between people it seems, but the lord card seems to pull in our relationship with ourselves, which in Tarot I connect to the suit of wands.

See what I mean about the cards adding layers of meaning and nuance?

As I understand it, the card asks us to evaluate the aspect of ourselves that are involved with the relationship in question, whatever level of intimacy or closeness that relationship may have in the bigger picture our lives. He portrays that facet-of-self quality as a mask. What part of ourselves are we showing, what mask are we wearing? How close to maskless does this relationship come?

Is there such a thing as a completely maskless relationship?

The mask we wear for ourselves is often the hardest of all to remove.

Thank you so much for reading along with this learning process. I hope it is helpful to you in some way. Thanks for coming along as I walk my talk about life long learning.

Sage Sips is fueled by private Tarot readings, ko-fi memberships, paid substack subscriptions and coffee (both real and virtual.) Your support through likes, comments and social media shares are always appreciated!

*Publishing Goblin’s Oracle Dice used with permission