This is a yes/no layout that the recipient allowed me to share with you, so you can see what an email Tarot reading with me is actually like. Instead of a video (that I for the blog) email readings get a static photo of your unique, real-world card layout.
Q: I got a reading with you almost a year ago. The reading said it was a good time to think about a job change. Not long after that, I got an unexpected job offer and took it. It seemed like the right thing to do and everything seems to be going well, but some doubts are starting to creep in. Did I do the right thing?
A: First of all thank you for letting me share your reading with the blog. It is such a positive energy and we could all use a little boost of good news these days.
And positive it is!
This is the most definite YES! energy that I’ve seen in a while. Usually, even in these “Zombie Cat” yes/no readings there is a lot of fluidity and emphasis on the power of choice.
This reminds me of that bitmoji where the energies and your spirit guides just sip a coffee and say YUP.
I apologize for this being a short reading. It always feels like these concise clear answers are too easy, that I’m not giving you your money’s worth. I hope the ‘yup’ is as valuable and reassuring as the energy feels on this end. It feels surprising too. If you ever had any doubts about your personal power, your path of magick, you can set those right on to the side. You are in a good place. All the effort has been worth it and people are starting to see all you’ve put into your growth and building good things for you and your family both in terms of real world, tangible things – but even more importantly for the positive esoteric energies that follow you around like your favorite perfume.
As you probably remember, these yes/no readings work a little like an I ching coin toss. Two aces = yes, but three aces mean a yes that can be easily tipped over to the opposite if you choose to do so. In this case, you are solid, which I’m guessing is just the news you wanted to hear.
Going card by card after the basic answer –
Ten of Cups is just as good as it looks. Cups are symbolic of closest relationships (as well as the element of water, intuition, emotions) This shows that the choice you made is good for you and your family, which you have always said is your number one priority.
Ace of Pentacles is as job related as you can get for this question. Pentacles are Earth, real world, career, finances. This is pure reassurance that work will work out ok.
Ace of Cups moves its focus from family & relationships to the water & intuition realm of the suit. Your instincts were right on target. Again, huge validation energy here. Doubts are normal. Stay on the lookout for any real problems emerging, certainly, but don’t get stuck in the past. The energy is very forward-looking at the same time it is reassuring.
I see blue…like a lighter gemstone, along the lines of blue lace agate or apatite. But that being said, I also feel pushed to say wear whatever crystals make you feel as powerful as you are. Lapis Lazuli steps forward too. In fact that is overtaking the lighter. Lapis, definitely lapis. I’m getting the usual woody scents like the meditative ones that usually come through for you. This time it is a little sweeter like copal or frankincense.
A quick flash of crossed over loved ones of an older generation – parents or grandparents. I ‘hear’ “honor the ancestors” but it is Dios De Los Muertos season. Now the taste of candy, like a vanilla taffy. Does that have any meaning for you?
Again Dia De Los Muertos (I hope I’m spelling that right) images.
And there the energies step back.
I hope that puts your doubts at ease! Gurrrl – you are SO on the right path!
Thanks again for letting me share such a cool-feeling reading!
Some say anxiety is from thinking too much about the future. We can’t predict the future but we can make plans and, more importantly, take action to help create the future we want. Psychic predictions aren’t much of a thing, but cause and effect is a proven, real and powerful thing. Tarot is very much that – it is a tool to help you understand what is going on here and now, and helps give you ideas about what to DO. Those ideas and those actions create the future, not predict it. Those ideas and actions help ease anxiety.
In this layout, the left card reflects the current situation, the current energy. It helps us understand what it is that prompted us to want a Tarot reading, or scroll a Tarot blog, or watch the social post that brought you here, or whatever the case may be.
The next card suggest a good next step. It is an idea what to do now about the energy that is happening now. That one idea, that one next step, is all it takes to interrupt that habit of letting your mind live in the future and stop the spiral into anxiety, even its just for a little while.
Coming in October: Sage Sips blog on TaoCraftTarot.com will be partnering with the “How To Holistic” blog to bring you more stress relief options. The Ebook “Reiki and Relaxation” and pay-what-you-want distance Reiki sessions to the Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot Ko-Fi shop.
KING OF CUPS: The king of cups is about both literal and spiritual guides and mentors. Cups cards are connected to the element of water. Because of that, they are also connected to intuition, emotions, and close relationships (including family, close friends, not just romance)
The message here is that you are not alone. You are connected to all that is. You are part of the Cosmos at the grandest scale. You spirit-world companionship is at your side at the very least. On a more practical scale, this isn’t a time to go it alone in the mental and emotional real world either. Read, listen, learn, ask for advice. That takes courage. That is why this kind of mentorship and learning is connected to the KING card. Be brave enough and wise enough to know that you don’t know everything and go get the knowledge that you need.
HANGED MAN: This card has two very different traditional meanings rolled into one card. On one hand it is about stagnation, or at the very least, feelings of frustration at the pace at which life is moving. Your mental/emotional/biological clock is ticking at a faster pace than things are naturally moving. The message here is basically cool your jets. Let things unfold. Time is key, and some things can only happen with time. You can’t ferment fine wine …or even a mason jar of pickles…in a day. Time is a crucial ingredient right now.
The other meaning for this card is ‘fearless sacrifice’ or ‘self sacrifice’ The sacrifice that must be made here is your expectations. Give up the when. Throw yourself on the alter of being patient.
Sacrifice your expectations and impatience to allow room for either real world or spiritual guidance (or both). Find your mentors. Spirit guides don’t work on a time clock. It takes time and quiet to hear spirit’s whispers. Moving at a fast pace makes it all hard to hear.
Thanks again for reading. Hoping to get a ‘weekend oracle’ ready for you Friday. See you at the next sip!
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The times are vibing with the Lenormand Deck, which inspired this two card layout in the first place. My experience with Lenomand resonated with a conversation I heard on “The Circle is Pod Cast” with Matt Auryn and Rachel True. Lenormand really is concise, direct, and often very sentence-like . That in turned this short subject/verb, what it is/what to do format.
What it is: CROSS. The liminal portal-like energy from last week continues. Think of this in religious terms if you must, but this energy is like crossROADS more than connected to any one religious viewpoint. This is a time of choices. Progress demands it. Linger here and become stuck, or choose well to manifest your next path for the highest good. This is a potent time. Use it well to set intentions, plant seeds, lay foundations.
What to do: Book Symbolic of both sacred mystery and deep learning, this is a reminder that learning isn’t always about logic and knowledge. Wisdom asks to be learned as well. Learn the way of your chosen spiritual path by reading, listening, finding a mentor. King of cups Tarot card comes to mind. Spirit guide energy is nearby to help, but you must still do the work and learn to find the best way for you as an individual to be a part of this energy and flow with this powerful time.
Sage Sips is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee.
Sage Sips is Tarot in the time it takes to sip your coffee. This longer read is a real world example of my new Taijitu Tarot layout.
This is a real life email Taijitu Tarot Reading that the client generously gave permission for me to share with you. This shows how the new layout works and what an email private reading with me is really like. You can order your own private reading anytime, 24/7, no appointment needed. Most of the time I can get the reading back to your email within 24 hours or so.
For added privacy, email readings have a photo or your individual real-world cards instead of a YouTube video. Videos are just for blog readings.
Q: Thanks for doing a reading for me. No problem. You can use the reading as an example on your website. I’ve seen you do these before and trust you to black out all the right stuff.
So much is going on I don’t even know where to start. Could you do an open reading?
A: Thanks ****** I appreciate it. I hope the reading helps you the most, but I also hope it helps other people who might stumble across it.
General Patterns
This layout reminds me a little bit of those lenormand “Action Decreases Anxiety” readings I was telling you about. We can do one of those for you someday if you want. The energy here is very straightforward and to the point the way those two-card Lenormand readings tend to be.
But I hear you about a lot going on. Two major arcana cards in one small three card layout is saying something.
I ‘hear’ (meaning the intuition comes as words, sounds or music instead of the usual mental images) “Liminal” while I get the impression of some sort of hallway. This high energy time is a transitional one from some phase or cycle or another. I hear “big moves” and “afoot” like when Sherlock Holmes says ‘the game is afoot” So you are right to think something is up, it’s just a matter of figuring out what, and and then figuring out what is the best thing to do about it.
Hallways are symbolic of transition and portal-like liminal spaces, so the hallway image makes sense. There is a sense of reassurance that even if there is chaos now, there is something waiting on the other side. It’s hard now, yes, but something is waiting on the other side. There is no guarantee that the other end of the hallway is euphoric dreamland – but by the same token there is a feeling of reassurance that it is all going to be OK sooner or later.
These cards are not at all tied to time, but are all about energy flow. It takes as long as it takes, but you’ll feel it when things shift. You’ll know when the energy changes. It’s not a past-present-future thing at all. It’s all about shift and flow. Here I see river rapids and a kayak, all rocks and white water and turbulence and noise, but ending in a wide, quiet, shallow, calm, sunny area with wide grassy banks.
I get the image of being caught in a rainstorm. It’s hard to say exactly how long any given rain will last, but you can often have a good sense whether it is a quick storm or settling in for a long, dreary day. The hallway is all shades of blue too, for whatever that is worth. If there is any crystal connection here, it feels like a reference to lapis lazuli which has a connection to intuition and the third eye. It might help support your own good intuition and help you navigate the next period of time, at the end of the hallway, whatever that turns out to be.
Yin: Judgement
Yin is energy you are drawing in toward you, which can be a very good thing. Yin is as powerful as yang, but in a different way. A strong magnet can pick up a car. This card can represent what you are manifesting, but can also point out weak spots that you can change for the better to help attract and manifest for the highest good..
Of the three cards, this one is really grabbing my attention. This feels like where majority of the energy is flowing for you right now.
The Judgement card is a two edged sword and it feels like you are getting both edges.
On one hand, there is jugdement in the sense judgementalism It feels like you have been misunderstood and misjudged harshly and unfairly to some extent, although you may have perceived this misjudgements as larger or harsher than it was intended at times. On this side of things you may come face to face with the idea of reputation. How much do you care about what other people think of you, and whose opinion really matters to you? By the same token, whose opinion is meaningless and irrelevant to you? Why should you care what distant acquaintances think of you?
The other side of the Judgement card is one of second chances. The phrase “to hell and back” comes to mind. I’m not sure where that comes from or exactly what it means in this context, but there it is. I’m also reminded of an old TV where one of the characters literally goes to hell and comes back. That character got a second chance in a big way and turns out to be the hero of the plotline.
I am also reminded of an internet meme that “religion is for people who want to stay out of hell. Spirituality is for people who have already been there.”
So for you…it’s a little both. You may be forced to come face to face with whether or not you care about what people think about you, and what you do when you are judged incorrectly or unfairly. But on the other hand, beyond this current turbulence you get a second chance at life in a larger sense. That doesn’t necessarily mean rekindling the relationship with ***** as much as part of you might wish for that. It means that you are going to be ok and have a second chance at inner peace whatever outer form that may or may not take.
Yang: Knight of Swords
Sometimes this card can represent something you need to push away, or release, to literally ‘blow off’ as the phrase goes. In your case I think this is something to embrace, lean into, and pump up the volume. In face I ‘hear’ the song “pump up the volume” by MARRS. Cool video, you might like it. I think it’s on YouTube.
Now the phrase “fake it until you make it” comes through – but not in the sense you might think. It’s not telling you to be fake – its saying to use both sides of the mind-body connection to your benefit. Just as reducing stress can improve physical health, physical environment can impact mental health.
This isn’t to say you have to an hour of cardio every day. This energy feels more like a recommendation to DO the things you know bring you joy. Double especially for those inexpensive, abundant “simple pleasures”. Have a favorite meal for no reason. Feng Shui the heck out of your living space. Light that jar candle that you enjoy, and get another if you need it. That sort of thing.
I’m also reminded of one of those inspirational saying things from somewhere “Don’t think yourself into a new way of doing, do yourself into a new way of thinking.” BE the change you want to see in the world. Imagine what life would be like if you already had a quality or condition that you want, and live that as if it were true for a day. Just a day. Try a mindset on for size, so to speak. Mat Auryn described it in Psychic Witch as if you want to be a powerful psychic, live for a day as if you already were. What’s different from the things you do now? If you like the feel of it, why not make the changes long term or permanent?
People see you as more confident and daring than you may feel. Be the badass you want to see in this world.
Harmony: Empress
I always know things are on the right track when I ‘hear’ the song “Bamako” by Youssou N’Dour which is the case here.
Rocks and trees and flowers and bees kind of nature is all well and good. In fact here I get the mental image of a wide, slow moving river with rocky banks. If you can get yourself into that natural environment, it can only be a good thing. Next best is forest, under shady, cool trees (here I see a local park with trees and a gazebo by a small creek.)
But the other kind of ‘nature’ is stepping forward more strongly for you. As in be true to your nature.
The way to move forward toward inner peace is to be authentic. You may have given away too much of yourself in service of others, to the extent there is nothing left for others to connect to. Moving forward with authenticity is the best path to that promised second chance. It is a way to call back the energy you have over-expended in order for it to enrich the connections you still have and to (re) build future connections.
Easier said than done, but simple and clear does not mean easy.
This is the point where the energy is short and to the point, like that Lenormand thing I mentioned earlier.
Summary
This is the part where I listen to pure intuition. The images might connect to the cards, or it might not. This is a chance for any other important messages to come through, especially in an open reading where there is no specific topic or question to guide the conversation.
Here I get blue lace agate to help calm stress and restore peace of mind.
I also get sage to release negativity BUT later changing to something sweet woody or resin-ish like sandalwood, amber, or copal as your confidence returns.
A flash of a teapot, which is sort of my universal symbol for hello from a grandmother or other crossed over loved one who was close to you.
Now I get the scent of pipe tobacco and a wood shop, which reminds me of my grandfather. That may be a cosmic hello too from someone who identified male when they were on earth.
Tea comes to mind. I don’t know if that is a literal ‘drink green tea’ thing or encouragement to find the Zen things in life that you enjoy, Zen in the spirit of mindfulness like a Japanese Tea Ceremony.
And there the energies step back.
I hope that helps in some way. As always, if you have any questions feel free to contact me here or DM on ko-fi. I have ko-fi DM set to open for all levels of supporters.
Same (or better) reading as you would get in-person
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It’s a learned skill.
And an internet meme.
James Bach, author of “Secrets of a Bucchaneer Scholar” once posted on social media that “People get defensive because they have something to defend.” It’s a normal, natural response and part of the learning process. After you read Tarot professionally for a while you learn not to take it personally. They’ll get over it. Or not. It’s up to them.
Sometimes the thing people are defending is something they actually need to change. Sometimes the “it” they are getting over is an honest answer that they didn’t want to hear. Nobody enjoys being called out on their s**t.
Sometimes being called out is exactly what we need.
As much as we enjoy indulging our confirmation bias, tempers flare when our biases are challenged instead.
As I read the cards, Tarot is usually a world of ideas, empowerment, encouragement, expanding horizons and gentle nudges. A little diplomacy goes a long, long way.
On the other hand, if subtle messages and gentle nudges are ignored, after a time our spirit guides (or however you think of these things) roll up their sleeves and break out the frying pan to the face method of communicating.
That’s the case here. Cups cards deal with emotions and close relationships. The emotion in question for the inverted four is moping and self-pity. There is no nonsense around the card today. Short, sweet and to the point, kind of like a caveman club over the head, the reversed four is telling us to stop moping, it’s time to move on. Wallowing in self-pity serves no one here. AKA …Knock it off!
Fire alarms aren’t quiet, subtle or diplomatic. They are loud and in your face and don’t care about feelings.
It isn’t fun for anyone when things get tense or feel confrontational. That’s never the intent of a Tarot reading. The intent is to shake us out of a stuck place or turn up the volume on a spirit message loud enough that we can finally hear it. The more important it is for us to hear a message, the more blunt, loud and direct the spirit message will become. A good Tarot reader can reflect that sense of urgency without being mean about it.
Even when spirit is telling it like it is, a little Tarot diplomacy (and humor) can go a long way.
Thanks so much for reading! Please follow the blog to get all of the latest posts direct to your inbox. See you at the next sip!
For the record, I wrote the bulk of this post yesterday, so no (private client from this morning) this isn’t directed at you. We all need a little bit of brutal honesty from the cards every now and then.
You can read more about that over-arching, cyclic Moon major arcana energy in the Weekend Shift post. There is a new focus today, but that gentle, cyclic, guiding Moon card energy is still with us.
Welcome to Sage Sips, Tarot for your week in the time it takes to sip your coffee.
Against the backdrop of Moon energy, I’m getting succinct, common sense, solid useful advice. Eat your vegetable, exercise, get enough sleep, drink enough water, wash your damn hands and when difficult emotions come around, follow this advice.
Interestingly it is an energy cycle very akin to what we were talking about a few weeks ago when Dharma Drum Mountain’s Four Steps for Handling a Problem came to mind. This is pretty much the same idea except it’s directed toward any strong, difficult emotions.
“You can’t fill an empty cup” is one of the best known Zen proverbs. Usually it refers to ego getting in the way of learning and mindful experience. In this case, the cups cards represent emotion. We can let old traumas cripple and pierce and fetter us, like the ten of swords or we can face them honestly and directly and masterfully, like the King of Cups.
Dwelling in the past isn’t a helpful thing in these cases. Just as Dharma Drum’s Ch’an Buddhism teaches us to let go of a problem once we’ve done all in our power to understand and solve it, today’s reading reminds us to let go of emotions that no longer inform us or serve us.
Full emotional cups that are dumped out unceremoniously dumped without thought or consideration just fill up all over again.
Full emotional cups that stay full beyond their time leave no room for growth or new happiness.
I’m not really sure what it means – it feels way out of context – but I ‘hear’ (meaning the intuitione comes as words or music instead of mental images) “Pour one out for your homies.” To me the vibe is like a ceremony or libation or communion with a symbolic pouring or drinking in honor of spirit or a crossed over loved one or something emotional and ceremonial and spiritual like that.
I wonder, too, if the growing energy Ace of Cups turned upside down is a reminder to pay attention to our spiritual life, our communion with whatever it is that we spiritually revere.
*raises mug of coffee to my spirit guide crew in deep gratitude*
Against the backdrop of last week’s Moon card energy, we are given a glimpse into the cycle of healthy human emotional experience: Feel. Abide. Release. Feel again.
Thank you all for reading. I appreciate your time and attention. Your likes, shares, blog follows, private reading orders, questions and comments are always appreciated. See you at the next sip!
Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip your coffee. I’m glad you are here.
Today’s card is the King of Cups
The energy of the card today isn’t quite typical for a King card. It fits a minor arcana court card, just not the usual boilerplate interpretation of the Kings per se. Often court cards, or the face cards as they are called in the modern game playing deck, are an in-between energy. They have more zing than the number cards in the minor arcana, but not quite the wattage of the major arcana cards. Kings represent the yang side of leadership. They are outward facing energy, very proactive and protective. This card is still connected to leadership, but in a quieter, more castle and keep sort of way. Cups are tied to closeness and emotion. The King of Cups is but in an intimate one to one sort of way. The King of Cups is an leader within the emotional and intuitive realm. The King of Cups is a mentor.
Here I am reminded of that old TV show Kung Fu. My Grandfather loved it because it was essentially a western and anything with cowboys and horses was high on his list of things to watch. We used to watch it together all the time, but my favorite parts were the flashbacks to the Shaolin Temple with “grasshopper.” I guess my affinity for Taoism and Chan Buddhism started at a pretty young age, come to think of it. That is so not a typical thing for 1970s evangelical appalachia, believe me. I think that memory comes to mind just now because of the mentoring relationship between Master Po and Kwai Chang. Yoda, Luke and Obiwan also come to mind if you prefer the Star Wars mythology.
Mentoring is an interesting relationship somewhere in between friendship and detached mass education. It is far more than just a one to one tutor. It is a friendship with a little airspace, allowing for correction and redirection.
Chingliang Al Huang, who collaborated with Alan Watts on Watts’ masterwork The Watercourse Way, wrote an excellent book on the topic The Tao of Mentoring. I’m guessing none of you will be surprised to learn I read both of those ages ago. But I highly recommend the Tao of Mentoring for anyone who is considering a career that involves one to one guidance like, for example, holistic health consulting or Tarot readings.
There aren’t many Yodas or Master Pos around these days, but guidance and mentoring is available to anyone willing to listen.
I don’t remember it exactly, but I once read a quote about how it is ok, even good to spend time alone. Sometimes we have to be alone to realize just how deeply connected everything really is. It has also been said by Robin Williams, Maya Angelo and others that it is far worse to be in the middle of people and life and things….but still feel alone.
Whether we are literally alone or feeling alone in the middle of other people, the King of Cups reminds us that we are never cut off from guidance and mentoring. The volume gets very very low sometimes, but never quite goes away. I’ve said it many times. Spirit speaks in whispers. Intuition is our ability listen to those whispers.
You would think I’d like the ASMR thing on social media. But honestly, I hate it. I must be wired differently from most people. Those whispery, breathy vocals especially make me want to yeet something at the TV or chuck my headphones across the room. But it comes to mind as an example for that process of listening to the whispers of guidance that comes from the collective unconscious, spirit guides, angels or however you name such things.
The King of Cups is quieter today than a typical king card reading. That indirectly reminds us to listen to real world mentors. The King of Cups, being a leader, reminds us that the best mentors listen too.
And thank you for listening to this blogcast now. See you at the next sip!
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For my own sanity, I really, really, REALLY try to avoid politics and that other powderkeg word that starts with R.
But, in full disclosure, the idea for today’s card dropped into my head while I was watching coverage of President Biden’s remarks in Tulsa about the Greenwood “Black Wall Street” massacre of 1921.
Most of the time when you work with an oracle tool to access your intuition (like Tarot, runes, scrying, I Ching or what have you) a random item sparks the meaningful idea. Sometimes, it’s happened the other way around. A meaningful idea drops into my head inspired by some other source; muses, spirit guides, something I’ve seen, something on TV, a song from the radio, a scroll through social media…anything. Those ideas are usually the ones that niggle at you for a while. I turn them into a post for “The Niggles” category here in the blog, or sometimes I’ll reverse engineer the idea into a Tarot card.
It’s an interesting exercise, really. It doesn’t even have to be a spontaneous, inspired niggly thought. Take any concept that seems important to you and browse a Tarot deck (or decks) to see which card best resonates or exemplifies the idea. It is a great way to build your relationship with your deck(s) and expand your intuitive understanding of the cards when you do a reading. In this case, the Two of Cups seemed best.
Today’s – or really last evening’s – niggly concept is “beloved.”
President Bidens remarks in commemoration of the Tulsa Massecre were so filled with compassion, insight, inspiration. Especially in contrast to the last administration, the kindness and humanity so evident in his words and voice were inspiring, heart wrenching and breath taking. I encourage you to listen to his speech. If you consider yourself one drop intuitive, listen with your heart and with your third eye. Bring your full intuitive attention to what he said as well as what historically happened.
Perhaps you will wonder, as I did, why isn’t he the most beloved President in American history. Perhaps he will be. If there is one bit of justice, if the species survives long enough to do it, I hope that those who look back at the early 21st century see Presidents Biden and Obama for the compassion and intellect they embody. Again…look with your third eye, listen with your heart, not with your usual political leanings.
Out of that moment, that fleeting thought, the word BELOVED grabbed my attention.
It takes a lot of people to make a President “one of the most beloved.” It takes a solid plurality (and enough popular vote to overtake gerrymandering and electoral college bias) to make a person a President at all, but what does it take to make a historical figure beloved?
One person.
Perhaps you.
All it takes for anyone to be beloved is for one person to love them, for any measure of time. That measure of time exists. Always. If you love or are loved for any moment, then you are loved for an eternity because that moment always exists in the larger eternity, no matter where else in time you view that moment from.
Every moment you give love to the universe, to any person, to any idea – to yourself – that moment counterbalances and functionally erases a moment of hate given elsewhere.
Even for a moment, if you love someone – or yourself – then that person is beloved.
As for President Biden, I suspect Dr. Jill has it covered.
As for the rest of us, love someone for a moment. They are then beloved. Think of the whole earth and everything living being on it just for one tiny little fleeting moment and send your love to that entirety. Now you too, are forever beloved.
All it takes for anyone to be beloved is one person.
Q: I’ve been going to (reputable websites) to learn about spirit animals. Two of them have told me that my spirit animal is a hare. Don’t tell me the good things about rabbits, it’s just not me. I just know that this isn’t right. Now what?
A: This is one of those long kind of answers, so thank you for hanging in with this. Double thank you for letting me use your topic for the blog. I think it’s true that “the veil thins” near to Halloween. This is a good time of year to begin (respectfully and carefully) working with spirit guides and animal totems. I’m guessing there are quite a few people who feel the way you do.
But don’t worry, I’m not going to extol the virtues of rabbits to you, although it is tempting to do that. We like our backyard bun-buns.
Animal medicine (in the shamanistic sense) is an important topic to me for a variety of personal reasons. My first card deck of any kind was David Carson and Jamie Sams Medicine Cards not long after they were first published. Still, I’m not an expert by any means and this is all just anecdotal experience. First and foremost, keep looking to people who are experts. I’m not familiar with the websites you mentioned, so I can’t really comment one way or the other. I can, however, wholeheartedly recommend the Medicine Cards companion book and Ted Andrews’ book How to Meet and Work With Spirit Guides as an excellent place to start.
Although it was/is an important thing to me as an individual to learn about animal totems, I really don’t think it is a necessary step in spiritual development for everyone. Especially now that we are more aware of cultural appropriation and growing in respect for the culture of indigenous people. That is why I think Mr. Andrews’ How to Meet and Work with Spirit Guides book is an important foundation. He points out that spirit realm interactions are a universal to every culture, animal totems nearly so, but only one chapter is dedicated to animal guides. They are one piece of the puzzle and not necessarily for eeryone. It might be worth asking yourself if your mis-match with rabbit is reflective of a mis-match with animal medicine as a whole. Culturally, personally, ancestrally speaking, is working with animal totems the right path for you? Is this something you deep in your bones feel as a personal relationship, or is it a broader intellectual interest? Both are perfectly fine, by the way. It is OK to learn about animal totems without one choosing you. Or it may just might not be time yet for animal totem work. Maybe human-form guide work needs to come first. Although the totem came first for me, I get the feeling that this is by no means true for everyone.
That being said, I feel you. When I did the quiz on the Harry Potter website that tells you your Patronus, my gut reaction to the result was along the line of “oh HELL no” Then I remembered the old maxim that when we immediately or innately dislike someone or something it is because it/they are some aspect of our own personality. They are mirrors showing us something that we don’t like about ourselves. Reflexive dislike or rejection can be an important teacher. Maybe the animal kingdom’s very first lesson for you is to point out issues that you need to come to terms with about yourself before moving further along the animal guide path. Once we think of the off-putting totem in those terms, suddenly they aren’t so bad after all. If that is why rabbit hopped into your life through those websites, then once you make friends with your rabbity side, then the totem may well fade away and your long term totem might then appear. When I looked at my web quiz patronus that way, it went from “oh hell no” to “oh, OK.”
Rowling’s patronus idea provides another good analogy for spirit animals. Sometimes they change (Tonk’s changed from a hare to a wolf when she married Lupin.) Like human-form spirit guides, animal guides can come and go. Not all of them are lifetime assignments. Hare may be a temporary or harbinger sort of energy. Animal totems seem to echo other guides in that way. I’ve read in a variety of sources that we have a master-guide or lifelong guardian angel sort of entity, but others can come and go. Some guides, be they animal or human, come to us for a particular time or a particular lesson or a phase of growth, then depart when they are no longer needed. Your primary guide is already with you and always has been. When you become aware of them, you’ll recognize them for who they are.
Based on personal experience, encountering a primary animal totem won’t happen through a website or by pulling cards. They are already with you so there is no need to go out and “get” or “find” your totem that way. It is a matter of making a conscious introduction, of wanting to deliberately say hello to that person who has been standing beside you in the elevator. The visual meditations that Ted Andrews gives are excellent for making that connection.
It also brings to mind a scene from The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina TV series. It was time for Sabrina the teenage witch to “get her familiar.” Rather than ordering one out of a catalog like everyone else, she decides to do a “summoning” ritual instead. That is exactly the subtle difference that I think is important here. Instead of going and getting, she trusted and attracted. Instead of yang, she was yin. She let her desire and need be known, then waiting trusting the her familiar to come to her. Now, substitute “spirit animal” for “familiar”
Rather than repeatedly going outward to websites, it might help to try sending out your desire to work with an animal guide but then turn quietly inward, wait and watch. This is where Ted Andrew’s other book Animal Speak comes in handy. After reading the foundations in the how-to spirit guide book, read Animal Speak. After you send out your intentions (by whatever means you choose) pay attention to animals that cross your path in ordinary, mundane, organic ways. Of course, the most powerful way for a totem to introduce themselves to you is in a dream. If not a dream, then pay attentions to the little ways that animals present themselves in your ordinary day-to-day routine. Is there a particular bird sitting on your car and giving you the side eye, or were you dive-bombed by a dragonfly on your yard, or does a particular animal suddenly seem everywhere in random advertising or are you given a gift with that animal on it….things like that. When those kinds of coincidences catch your attention, research THAT animal and see how it feels. What is that kind of animal encounter trying to teach you? If it is your primary totem, you’ll know. No one can tell you the right animal is not your guide, any more than anyone can convince you that hare is your guide. You’ll know with the same amount of certainty about the right guide that you feel now for the seemingly wrong one.
Speaking of hare/rabbit: Mr. Andrews suggests looking at relationships among animals for better understanding. Sometimes, because we live in cities and ‘burbs and not out alone in the wilderness, animals that are used to living near humans or even pets can be a messenger for a wild counterpart. For example, a house cat presenting as a totem might be your cue to research wild felines like bobcats or mountain lions, etc.
He also suggests understanding predator/prey relationships. Who does your totem eat, or what eats your totem? There are energies and lessons there, too. Before you give up on rabbit, look at wild western jackrabbits or its usual predators like coyotes or wolves.
Objectivity is important, too.
Animal totems are guides, not personal avatars. JK Rowlings’ patronus characters may embody the characteristics of the witch or wizard in the fictional world of Harry Potter, but in my experience it isn’t like that with actual animal totems. They teach you, not represent you. They feel more like companions or colleagues to me. They help you grow, not tell the world who you are. Think of it this way: Would you reject college professors because they were different from you? You resonate with your life-guide, just like you may have resonated with a favorite academic adviser…but you don’t have to resonate with transient totems any more than you had to be totally sympatico with your math teacher in order to graduate.
I’d be totally interested to know if any of this helps or if you try any of it. Comments are back open on the blog if you want to drop a note there. Maybe other people will leave questions about animal totems or spirit guides too. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll try to find it or at least point you in the direction of someone who might know.
Just like in the video – I want to start today with a big thank you. Thank you to everyone who reads the blog, watches on YouTube, or follows on social media. A big thank you to everyone who subscribes to the channel or follows the blog (you can do that by email or in WordPress reader. The buttons are in the right hand column in landscape view or scroll WAY down on mobile)
I want to give an extra big thank you to everyone who leaves comments in either place. It is especially helpful on the video side. If you let me know the kind of Tarot content you want to see, then I can learn how to create it. I’ve been reading Tarot for 27 years and writing a blog about it for over 17 of those years. I’m really, really good at that part of it. There is, however, a learning curve to the video side of things. They don’t cover YouTube in B.S. Med. Sci or Ph.D. Natural Health degrees, so my GenX geezer brain is learning that part on the fly.
Most videos will be pretty short. They were never intended to be more than a companion piece for the blog, just like this post today. The videos enhance the blog by showing the daily readings are generated by a real person with a real Tarot deck doing a real card draw. The blog enhances the video with in depth card interpretations. Intuition communicates differently than how-tos, recipes, and game play-through. I often stop and listen to intuition during a reading in order to do the best possible job for you. That pause is invisible in print, barely noticeable in person, but a small eternity on YouTube. The pause in today’s video was a grand total of six seconds. I allow short pauses on private reading videos, but nobody likes any amount of dead air on YouTube. There are lots of talented speech-to-camera readers out there, but its not my specialty. I’m a distance for individuals specialist, but not a media maven for the masses. Cue the Dr. McCoy voice: Dammit Jim, I’m a writer, not a yootoober!
The pandemic is preventing face to face readings and that whole Stripe debacle is preventing you from a blog subscription that includes individual readings. Screw-em. Let’s do this another way. Let’s use comment questions and blog answers like a giant, slow-motion, ongoing AMA. You ask. I answer. The down side is that the answer is in a public space, with NO expectation of privacy. The up side is that it’s FREE. I benefit from the creative inspiration that your questions bring AND I hope that, once you get a taste of what TaoCraft Tarot readings are like, you’ll want to purchase a private reading or two.
Use the comments below to submit your questions about, well, anything. Comments are moderated, so anything inappropriate or spam will be cursed and obliterated. So just don’t.
Today’s card gives us a good example of the difference between a personalized private reading and the general card readings online. We all look up at the same moon even though our individual thoughts under that shared moonlight are an intensely personal thing. Moonlight carries both a shared and individual experience. Tarot questions can do the same. Your public answer might seem superficial, but it helps other people – you all see the same moon, metaphorically speaking. A private session is more specialized and detailed, just for you like your unique inner experience of looking at the moon, that doesn’t involve anyone else at all.
The moon card is about deep inner spirituality, listening to deeper intuition…which also fits this. Spirit messages are all whispers and moonbeams. A genuine intuitive reading for you as an individual doesn’t make for great social media. I hope you’ll use the AMA, the videos and the website to all decide if I’m the right Tarot reader for you, but I also hope you’ll respect yourself and your inner voice enough to purchase a private session if you think you we are a good match. I can do so much more for you in a private reading than in these media snippets show.
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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