Tag: stress reduction

Better Than You Might Think

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Psychologists, holistic health professionals and Buddhists agree. Action Eases Anxiety – maybe better than you think. Simple mental and physical exercises can take the edge off of anxiety, which is more than typical day-to-day worry. Things like naming five things you see, taking a short walk, patterned breathing. I highly recommend @DanHarris and @jim_donovan_sound_health on instagam for more trustworthy real world anxiety advice.

This layout is inspired by Lenormand Tarot but works with any Tarot or Oracle Deck. The left card reads the current concern or the current energy environment. It may be a clue to what is the cause of your anxiety. The right card is a clue to the best thing to do next. It’s like a sentence; Subject and verb. It shows what the situation is and what to do about it.


WHAT’S GOING ON: Queen of Cups. This is deep emotion, perhaps something long suppressed bubbling to the surface. Emotion isn’t your enemy. Sit with it. Feel it fully, then move on knowing it doesn’t rule you or the reality around you.

BEST NEXT STEP: The Emperor. This signifies deep competence and real-world skill. Build your confidence. Head over heart. Let logic lead for a few steps to give emotions a chance to exist and heal and be understood without letting them rule you. You are in charge here and probably doing much better than you may think. Expanded post on https://TaoCraftTarot.com tomorrow

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

Do you

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

The Empress is the queen of nature, so when this card comes along take a minute to water your houseplants, look out the window, Google a waterfall – something nature related. There have been some studies hint that looking at pictures of natural scenes can have real world impacts lowering blood pressure and decreasing perceived psychological stress. (That’s where Tarot can help, by the way. It can help decrease psychological perceived stress. I’ve seen it happen.)

There is another aspect of touching grass. There is another nature that is important today. YOUR nature. The person you innately, naturally, easily already ARE – not who you want to be or who you think you SHOULD be. Be kind to the person you are right now. Do something that you enjoy right now, not because you should or because other people value it. Touch base with yourself. If yourself likes touching grass, do that. I your true self like a good book inside someplace with robust air conditioning – do that. Allow yourself a nap. Whatever harmless little thing that makes your strange little heart happy in the right here right now. It’s a you do you kind of day. Unabashedly. Be you with all the authority and confidence of an Empress.

See you at the next sip!

Find Your Tribe

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

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Today’s energy: Ten of Swords

Failures, obstacles, and betrayals take time to heal even as life demands that healing. The more painful the experience, the stronger the message that this is not the path for you.

You are not your failures, unless you accept them as such. Take them as a message and an opportunity to learn or to change direction then suddenly painful setbacks are just signposts along your way.

Next Step: Nine of Cups

This is a card of community and celebration. Found family heals. Found community supports. Your true tribe is a place of love and acceptance wherever and whoever they may be.

Your true tribe is the people and places that energize you, uplift you, comfort you, and make you feel most deeply at home. Only you can who your tribe is. No one can tell you who your tribe should be.

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Daily Meditation Tarot

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

Available for purchase in the TaoCraft Tarot ko-fi shop

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

Tarot has a part to play in both, especially in the form of one card daily meditation style Tarot readings.

I explain how to start your own daily meditation Tarot practice, which is kind of a misnomer since you don’t have to do it every single day. As I see it, the “daily” part comes from the way the Tarot reading takes a “just for Today” approach, much the same as the Reiki precepts.

By not focusing on personal development, past events, predicting the future or any other thing, drawing a card just for today is very akin to mindfulness meditation.

Tarot in general can be very stress reducing, and have helpful mental and emotional benefits in that way. I’ve seen it dozens upon dozens of times when I was doing in-person readings. The body language was clear as a bell; people’s shoulders would drop, their face would relax, they’d sit back in their chair a little more. Tarot readings offer a degree of healthy mental and emotional relief.

Life is less stressful when we understand the situation a little better or can formulate a plan for moving forward, hopefully both.

Tarot can help with that understanding. Like a meditation practice, when you add up those small, incremental bits of relief it can amount to something larger.

Meditation and mental health advocates have been saying these things for years. Reiki’s “Just for today” precepts is an example. Taoism and Buddhism give us the idea of change and impermanence. Everything is always in motion and change is a part of life. Death, Temperance, The Moon, The Wheel, the Two of Pentacles and other cards carry many of the same ideas.

PeaceTarot can teach you to find this Tarot comfort for yourself, even if you don’t own a Tarot deck. This simple method teaches you how to draw and read a daily Tarot card, gives a peace-themed meaning for every card in a RWS style Tarot deck PLUS three different techniques for choosing a Tarot card meaning if you don’t have a Tarot deck at hand.

PeaceTarot is available as a .pdf download and is available for purchase now from the Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot ko-fi shop

Today’s Tarot: You know what to do

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

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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.

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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PeaceTarot is your DIY guide to Daily Meditation style Tarot readings. Learn to read for yourself and bring a peaceful tarot moment to your day.

Knowledge is Power: ADA (action dissolves anxiety) Tarot for Today

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

“Tarot doesn’t predict what is going to happen in life. Tarot helps you figure out what to do when life happens” – Sage Snow

ADA two-card readings are a daily meditation style Tarot that is intended to help ease worry and help creative problem solving because uncertainty sucks. Having a little understanding of a situation and a first step plan of action can go a long way to turn down the volume when anxiety happens.

The current energies: Four of Cups. Emotions just are – they come handed to you by life. You are the one who gets to decide if an emotion or a situation is a good or a bad thing. You get to decide whether to embrace or reject it. Don’t be stubborn about it. Your happiness is up to you.

What to do next: Page of Swords. Learn something. Knowledge is power. Swords are cards of mind and intellect. Googling social media doesn’t count here. Get real, science level information and education. Use your head. Use your know-how to cut through the fog and find your way through the storm of emotions.

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ADA (action dissolves anxiety) Tarot 003

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

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These two major arcana cards suggest a simple but powerful lesson: Only the empty cup can be filled.

What is (the current situation, current energies): The Magician
What to do next: The Death Tarot card (change, not the literal horror movie thing – you know that, right?)

The energy is right for attracting the things you need. If it is right, doors will open. The flow of energy is strong enough to follow.

But change may be needed. Clear a space, mentally or physically, for the desired things to be. Clear the runway – make a space for good things to land.

Sage Sips blog is Tarot in the time it takes to sip your coffee. Please subscribe in the right hand column (or scroll WAY down on mobile) to get new posts in your inbox. The blog is always free to read, and supported by your private reading purchases, memberships and virtual coffee gifts on ko-fi.

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

ADA (action dissolves anxiety) Tarot reading 002

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

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Knight of Wands (the current situation, left) The time requires action. Boundaries are getting blurred and need reinforced. It is a good environment for rediscovery of your strengths and magic.

Three of Wands (next step forward, right) Watch. Asses. Know where the boundaries are and reinforce them where needed. Evaluating and planning IS action.

Deck: Alleyman’s Tarot by Seven Dane Asmund. Used with permissions.

Thank you to Dan Harris for inspiring this layout. I highly recommend his books and Substack.

ADA (action dissolves anxiety) Tarot 001

Sage Sips is Tarot in the time it takes to sip your coffee (or tea or adult beverage or whatever you have this time of day) – Action Dissolves Anxiety

Thank you for watching the very first ADA (Action Dissolves Anxiety) Tarot post here on Sage Sips. This feels like the reading layout we need.

If you find this new style of reading helpful please support Sage Sips blog on Ko-fi. Private readings, memberships and virtual coffees all support this always-free to read blog.

Left (what it is, current situation, current energy environment): The Stork – change, upheaval, cycles, deep cleaning

Right (what to do, a good next step): The Tree – Your stability depends on your growth. Increase your awareness, presence, and spiritual center of gravity. Be deliberate. Don’t sleepwalk through the chaos. Do what you can with what you have to grow, to put down roots, to stabilize things as best as you can.

Deck: Healing Light Lenormand by Christopher Butler copyright 2021 all right resserved. Used with permission via https://www.llewellyn.com/about/permissions_tarot (free tarot education, electronic tarot readings)