Today’s Tarot: Seven of Wands (11 July 2019)

Sometimes the best way forward is straight through. To borrow a phrase, just do it. Maybe a little melee is just what we need, especially if the confrontation is with oneself.

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Today’s Tarot: The Fool / Taroko Por Hodiaŭ: La Malsaĝulo

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“A journey of a thousand miles (kilometers) begins with one step” – proverb, Tao Te Ching

I’ve always wanted to be bilingual.

It’s a bucket list kind of thing. Had 2 years of French in high school, but never quite made it past the three most important sentences in any language: J’ai faim. J’ai perdue, Ou sont la toilette pour la femme s’il vous plais (I’m lost, I’m hungry, where is the ladies room please?)

I also discovered that I do not like noun gender. The whole bilingual thing was not as interesting if it meant climbing over noun gender to get there. Then along comes Esperanto. It is a language that makes freaking sense: no exceptions, no irregular verbs, no friggen’ noun gender. The concept of Espranto, its raison d’etre if you will, speaks to why I want to be bilingual in the first place. It was designed from the ground up to be able to be communication for diverse, eccletic people anywhere, everywhere, no matter where you were from. Being bilingual seemed global. It was worldly. Speaking another language was urban and streetwise and cool, especially to a kid growing up in rural Appalachia where being different is a sort of cardinal sin. Any other language, natural or constructed, was a way to touch the world from inside the evangelical shoe box without anyone noticing. I mean, you had to have foreign language credits for college, right?

Fast forward 10 years. The kid from Appalachia started studying martial arts, and picked up a few words of Mandarin, at least enough to order my favorite take out, no noun gender required. Global and cool was mine! Those pesky full time jobs, though. They tend to get in the way of things, especially language lessons in the days before the internet. No fluency there.

Now we have TA-DAH….technology! Back to Esperanto (because noun gender). Still global, still cool, and FREE on DUOLINGO . The language name Esperanto is based on the word for hope, espero. The idea was to create an accessible second language any one can learn so everyone can communicate, with the hope of gaining understanding, conducting business and diplomacy all from an equal footing. The hope of Esperanto was to create a better world through communication. I hope to learn a bit of fluency before I croak. To that end, I’m also taking advice from a TED talk about language learning, do something fun in your new language. I’m combining hope with passion and writing Tarot posts in Esperanto.

Richard Delamare, “Evildea” of Youtube fame once mentioned in an episode that part of his inspiration for starting an esperanto YouTube channel was its uniqueness. How many Esperanto vlogs were there at the time? I wonder the same. Even now, I wonder how many people read Tarot online in Esperanto. I haven’t stumbled across any yet. But on the other hand, my skill level isn’t high enough to do a real dive into the Esperanto speaking internet. Even if there are a zillion of us, so what? There are a zillion English speaking Tarot readers and I still manage to contribute a little somethin’ somethin’ every now and then.

Mi estas komenkanto. I am a beginner. Mi faros multejn erarojn. I will make many mistakes. Mi foje faros Tarokajn lagelojn en Esperanto cxi tie. Sometimes, I will do Esperanto Tarot readings here. Gi estos amuza se nenio alia. It will be fun if nothing else.

A Sentence Suspended In Time

This post is not going the way I thought it would. This is about the 10th re-write of something I’d hoped to post last Wednesday – or something like that. Even after all of these years, cool & fascinating stuff still happens with the cards. I’m not 100% comfortable with how self-referential this is turning out to be. At the same time, I feel pushed by intuition to share the stuff that has been going on inside my head, the hope being that it will show you a little bit about how valuable a daily Tarot practice and DIY Tarot can be. Then of course, I hope you will click over to the shop and buy PeaceTarot to learn how to tap into the coolness for yourself. So shameless self-promotion out of the way, let’s take a peek at Tarot, social media and a sentence suspended in time.

The daily cards from this week have been niggling at me for days. I originally started the series with the intent of connecting a very young-seeming audience on a new (to me) social media platform. The intent was to draw a simple daily card with a short stand alone message with the hope it would help whoever stumbled across it. As the week went on a pattern emerged. It was like a slowly unwinding message, a paragraph draped across an entire work week.

  • Justice (reversed): You have done / are doing something boneheaded. Just stop. Do better next time.
  • Three of Swords: Use your street smarts. Use what you know.
  • Five of Cups: Mistakes happen. It can’t rain all the time, but neither is it sunny all the time. Let it go, this will pass.
  • Six of Wands: Make peace with yourself and the rest falls into place.
  • King of Cups: Spiritual guidance may come in its own time and at its own pace, but it always, always comes when it is needed. Even when you don’t know that it is needed.

I’ve tried a half dozen times to write this post, but it just wasn’t coming together. When writing a post feels more like a sparring match the message is often as much for me as for the audience, usually more. When the message is detached, channeled for a client or for someone “out there” in cyberspace, it flows in a different way. When it is something I need to get my head around, then the niggling and wrangling begins.

Today’card, the King of Cups, is proof in action of its own message. Even though I’ve been wanting to knit the first three cards together for a while, it needed the King of Cups’ message to feel right, to be complete.  I didn’t know it was needed, but here it is after taking its own good sweet time to arrive.

This is how the slow motion message reads now; You are doing something bone-headed. Just stop. Use some street smarts. Letting it continue might lead to bigger regrets later. Let it go. Be at peace with yourself and the right opportunities will come. Let guidance and opportunity unfold with its own timing and trust the process of intuition.

I know, I know. I should – and do – trust the intuitive process. If I didn’t we wouldn’t be having this conversation.  We all need little reminders every now and then. Even though it is an absolutely normal, needed, everyday, commonplace practice, sometimes the marketing and promotion aspects of owning and running a business (especially an artistic, esoteric, service business like this one) make me a little uncomfortable. I know my shit. It feels a little wearisome and narcissistic to have to keep telling everyone that I know my shit and am good at what I do. But that’s another story. Back to the cards.

These particular cards are courtesy of my new Tik Toc account. I thought it might be a good way to reach a younger audience that wasn’t dialed into Instagram or Twitter. I push to Facebook and Tumblr, but don’t interact with them directly very often. I just enjoy IG and Twitter more. Logically speaking, social media is both a fun and low cost promotional resource. More promotion, more clients…and I need the cash flow as much as anyone else. So what is there to lose giving a new (to me) platform a try? Short format videos is a good way to flip a card, give a sentence, and then come here for a longer interpretation. Easy.

The mechanics of it are easy. The energy of it is not. When the first page of trending videos loaded, I wanted to click away as fast as possible. Not my crowd. Like I have always said about finding the right psychic or Tarot reader… just because there is a personality mis-match doesn’t mean the other person is doing anything wrong. But ego and the bank account over rode the street smarts. I thought the “young” demo there maybe “needed” something a little more spiritual to go with the sea of selfies and narcissism. So much for TaoCraft’s “fierce authenticity,” right? I really don’t think that crowd is a good match for personal growth and spirituality. I work next level. The energy every time I opened the app is that they are still operating at the Miss Cleo stage razzle dazzle predict-my-future-so-I-don’t-have-to-think-about-it-fix-me level of Tarot. Not my gig. Still, in the spirit of giving it a fair chance, did the cards every day except the holiday to see what would happen.

What happened was the cards give me a little reminder to be authentic, and trust my gut the energy on the website for the luvva….

(insert spirit guide eye rolling here)

So what have I learned from this little experience?

Tik Tok was not a good idea, but I did the right thing keeping post comments closed and protecting the blog/website from trolling. Web sites are sites. They are places in cyberspace that carry energy and intention just as much as any room in meatspace. It is a mistake to ignore that energy. It may not be a mistake to try, but it would be a mistake to continue to ignore the vibe. This is the time and place for fierce authenticity, remember? I fully realize that I am about the next level personal growth kind of Tarot readings. I am no longer willing to compromise quality in pursuit of quantity. I need clients, always. They will come in time, with process. Don’t forget to trust the processes of authenticity, just as you trust the processes of intuition that brought you to authenticity in the first place.

Even when you are crashing around mindlessly caught up in the nuts and bolts of life….like trying to run a successful service and artistic business…the right spirit message will eventually land in your lap. The trick is being willing to listen to it when it does.

All of that being said, see how the symbolism, words, images all lead to practical, usuable language? That is what I do for clients. I translate the cards into real world advice. In this case it isn’t about predicting how my business will do, or predicting if Tik Toc will be a good source of clients. In this case it is about personal growth advice: Get off Tik Tok and be true to yourself.

There is another layer of message here….it reminds me of the message I get time and time and time again in relationship readings. This too shows the wisdom of don’t chase, attract. Be a magnet, not a search and destroy mission.  Be happy here and now, and the rest will come. Be happy and the right people will come into your life. Like attracts like. I want clients that want my style of reading. So I have to be true to my style of reading. A prediction of how many clients I’ll get won’t do a thing for me. But by steering me away from Tik Tok, I can make new choices. I don’t know how many new clients I’ll get, but I’ll be a LOT happier along the way. I’ve chosen my path and built a better future, even if it is different from the original intention or expectation of getting more clients with the Tik Tok feed. See how that works? That is exactly what my readings for clients are like too….not predictions, but a translation of spirit into usable, practical advice-sentences. Not everyone is ready for that kind of thinking. Not everyone is ready to let go of old hurts, to heal and to grow. But for those who are, I’m hear to help….not over there posting on the selfie-palooza app.

Justice reversed, Three of Swords, Five of Cups, Six of Wands, King of Cups make sentences suspended in time; You are doing something boneheaded, so just stop. Use your street smarts. Let it go. Be at peace with your true self, and the rest will fall into place. Guidance will always come – whether you know you need it or not.

 

 

 

 

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Distance (email, video, handwritten) Tarot is my specialty. You have my promise – the distance readings contain the all of the exact same information I would tell you face to face, maybe more. I use the cards to “read” spirit and energy’s message for you. I don’t read you. Since spirit is everywhere, you and I can be anywhere and the same message gets through.

Today’s Tarot 29 June 2019

New!

You know TaoCraft has a youtube channel, right? (Check it out here…please don’t forget to subscribe, click thd bell and all that youtube-y type stuff)

I honestly don’t know if I’ll be able to tolerate it until the algorithm kicks in (first impressions on an energy level are not good) but am going to give Tik Toc a try. It will be all be just a quick look at the card of the day, with the longer format stuff all going to the youtube. My vision for youtube is to mesmerize with handwritten daily readings, cool inks and pens, sigil crafting and so on. Youtube is where I plan to put the longer, higher quality, less frequent vids, but my goal is also to put up flash draws (like this one) as often as possible on Instagram stories and for those who prefer it, on Tik Tok.

Consider this an invitation to stop by on social media. I am personally on Instagram and twitter everyday…so don’t be shy about saying hello. Most days I can be a pretty nice – given enough coffee anyway. The blog pushes to Facebook &Tumblr, but tbh, I almost never interact directly there.

It’s easy enough to find. I’m @TaoCraft.Tarot on Instagram, TaoCraftTarot on everything else.

Hope to see you there

Q&A: Light Housekeeping

Q: Do you do house cleansing or clearing? I will be moving into a new house, and I was told a man had been murdered there. I want someone to come to the house and take a reading of it and to respectfully help him or anyone move on. To answer your question, no, nothing has happened to make me think he or any other spirits may be stuck there, but there is one area that has a strong feeling of sadness. I did burn some sage, but it didn’t seems to help. Is there anything you can do?

A: That isn’t my area of expertise. I deal with spiritual guidance for living folks, not so much the not living ones. The one person I knew who did do this sort of work has moved away from our area. Since you want someone to come to the location, unfortunately all I can do is suggest that you continue your google search.

In the meantime, I do know some basics that you can do for yourself that might help. I’ve used them in the past for different applications, not this particular kind of clearing, so I can’t make any promises. They worked so well for other energy clearing, since you don’t think you have a full on haunting, it might be all  you need to settle in to a new space and make that new house a home.

That was a great idea to start with sage. It is, in my experience, very calming, soothing, grounding, centering, balancing, comforting and protective. Whether it did anything for the sad feeling energy or not, at the very least it would help you to feel calm and protected as you do your clearing work.

Sage, black salt, ground eggshells and all of that are helpful for protection, yes, but it seems you need something to clear first…then you can move back to the protective measures.

Think of it this way, putting a doormat outside of your door will help keep new mud from being tracked into the house, but it won’t do anything about the footprints already on the floor.

My intuition is that you need something brighter, expansive, clearing and dispelling. My hunch is salt, sound and lemon. In aromatherapy, citrus scents are believe to be clearing, cleansing, energizing and very high vibration. Any residual energy of the sad, tragic kind you describe is low vibration and would need that extra boost in order to clear, to move out. High vibration measures is like mopping the old footprints off the floor after you put the doormat out.

I suggest a three step treatment for the whole house if you can manage it…or the area where you sense the sadness at the very least.

First do normal, ordinary, mundane cleaning. Just like ordinary spring cleaning as anyone would before moving in. Second, mist all the rooms, especially around windows and all doorways, corners too if you feel they need it. Make a lemon salt water mist with filtered or spring water, a pinch of salt, and either some lemon essential oil or a little lemon juice. The scent doesn’t have to be strong and just a pinch of salt will do when you are doing energy-level work like this. After you clean and mist, ring a small bell or chime in each room or use one of those “singing bowls” if you prefer.

Once you have done the energy-raising cleansing, then you can protect with sage or a sprinkle of salt/black salt/ground eggshell powder at the entry doorways to help keep the energy clear.

After all of that, you could really put the frosting on the cake and have someone bless or dedicate the home. A good old fashioned housewarming party might help too…housewarming really is a good name for it. Friends and family having a pleasant time together truly can raise the energy of a space and make it feel like home. f

If you would like to go more in depth, I suggest reading Psychic Protection by Ted Andrews. It is an excellent resource.

Like I said, I’m no expert in this particular topic. If I learn anything new, I’ll post it here in the blog for you. Don’t forget to subscribe by email so you don’t miss new posts or the special offers coming later in the year.

Thanks for the great question! Sorry I couldn’t be more help. I’d be interested to know if you try this and how it works for you. I hope it works as well for you.

All Best Wishes

R.