TaoCraft Short Sip Tarot – Page 8 – Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot

It’ll be back

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today mystical self care until the woo woo feels come back.

Welcome to Tao Craft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.

As you’ve probably noticed I’m an all in fan girl for the Alleyman’s Tarot deck and today’s card is probably one of my favorites so far. It puts all of the Tarot and Reiki work I do into a little better perspective. The weird ass mystical shit is a normal part of life just like everything else. Seeing it put in so many words is a good reminder not to take things quite so seriously. The weird ass mystical shit card has a lot of the same “embrace the absurd” and “go with the flow” advice that I often get from the Page of Cups card.

Plus, today’s weird ass mystical shit card is reversed. Either that means things are gonna be extra spoopy or overly normal, one or the other.

All I can say is that it’s probably a good thing that I’m not monetized on any platform and totally rely on your support. Otherwise I’d probably be demonetized today. This card gets just a little sweary.

That’s not the only disclaimer. I’ll be talking about the card and deck as if they are an intelligent separate entity more than usual.

This deck is easily the largest I’ve ever used. It can be slippery and challenge my manual dexterity at times. That makes the deck seem like it has a mind of its own. It also has a propensity for reversals. So far, the deck has been serious about each and every one of them. In this case, my hunch is that the reversal means a block. The WAMS card (as the deck creator calls it) tells it like it is, no woo woo required. In this case, the reversal takes the mystical woo woo down yet another notch. In essence, today’s card is a validation for you if you aren’t feeling the slightest bit spiritual at all.

If you are deep in the mystical feels today, then this card is asking you to consider what you will do when – not if, but when – you hit a day where your sense of the mystic isn’t there. What is it you can rely on later when a low-energy day comes along? What can you trust when your feelings of personal power elude you? A day when you are dialed in and feeling is a good day to pay attention to what really works for you so that you can rely on it when you really need it.

I read Scott Cunningham’s Wicca for the Solitary Practitioner a few years ago. One of the most memorable parts was simply “The feeling is the power.” On one hand that is a very empowering idea. It speaks to a deep trust in ourselves, our feelings and our innate intuition. The feeling is the power regardless of rituals or tools or outward appearances. The thing you choose is secondary to the act of mindful choosing in and of itself. The external things that express your feelings are secondary to the feelings themselves.

But that also begs the question of what to do when you just aren’t feeling it. Does not feeling mystical render you powerless? Does it make you somehow vulnerable?

Vulnerable, maybe, but not powerless. We all need to pull back sometimes. We all need to balance yang with yin, haul in the envelope we’ve been pushing, and give ourselves a little TLC. If we keep pushing when we need to be still then things can go haywire. It may seem empty or powerless or outright ridiculous to lean on weird mystical shit when we just aren’t feeling it. But remember, weird mystical shit has its practical, plain-talking side. It’s something to build a bridge between now and the point in time when the woo woo feeling comes back. And it always comes back.

You might call it faith. That’s too Christian-ish for me personally. For me, the word faith conjures the con-man’s call to blindly take someone’s word about something unproven, possibly unprovable. When you’re not feeling the mystical woo woo, blind faith is a dangerous thing. Deep trust is a better way. When you are feeling more BLAH than empowered, wouldn’t it be better to lean on something you’ve tested and trusted and used before? Trusting yourself is the path back to feeling the mystical.

Sometimes that trust in yourself takes the form of waiting until the time is right. Sometimes trusting yourself means just doing what you already know works and allowing time to do its healing thing.

The card reminds me of a meme of unknown origin, one of my favorite memes.

It reads quote Movie witches: For this spell you must gather these sacred items three, soak them in water held by the skin of a deer and drink half a cup each night before bed until the full moon…Real witches: Imma just draw a sigil or something on this toaster strudel and have it for breakfast end quote.

Some days are all weird ass mystical shit, full of power and potential. Other days are all toaster strudel and shoving your favorite crystals in your pocket until the feeling shifts. The mystical feeling will be back. Count on it because the mundane, practical, logical, and irreverent parts of life are with you everyday regardless of how you feel and those things are just as magical and mystical as anything else.

So yeah.

The rock in your pocket protects a low energy psyche. The sigil on your strudel can do what needs done until you are feeling the feels again. Whatever holds your trust does so with good reason. Forget blind faith – when you rely on things that have EARNED your trust you are, in turn, actually trusting yourself. You are trusting your own judgement about what is or isn’t trustworthy.

Thank you so much for reading and listening. I appreciate any likes, subs, shares, follows, questions and comments that you can spare. Comments are open on the blog, and there is a link to the blog in the podcast episode description.

I’m not kidding about not being monetized. That allows me to follow intuition’s lead and say what needs said without worrying about offending advertisers. It also means that I need your support. If you are enjoying the blog or the podcast please visit the TaoCraft Tarot ko-fi page. The shop proceeds and memberships go toward the time and web hosting it takes to create these free to access Tarot readings for everyone.

In the spirit of full disclosure, private readings by email with the blog author are available for purchase on the blog and podcast website. Email readings are always open and available, no appointment needed.

Thanks again and see you at the next sip.

The Alleyman’s Tarot was created by seven Dane Asmund of Publishing Goblin LLC and used here with permission.

Opportunity in Slow

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee

Thank you for reading and listening to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. Your likes, subs, shares, follows, questions and comments are always appreciated! I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is the Hanged Man from the major arcana.

It’s the day after a holiday here in the U.S. and like usual that makes today feel like a Monday even though it isn’t. There is a certain “pause and pirouette” feel to the energies today. We are just now moving into full cultural summertime even if there are a couple of weeks to astrological summer. We are moving from dark moon into a waxing moon. The weather is moving from a bit spring chill into full sunny stinking putrid humid hot weather. It feels like a larger, energy zeitgeist sort of shift too.

The Hanged Man often talks about being stuck or stagnant. I don’t think that is quite the message. The other threads of meaning for the card aren’t a perfect fit either. Diane Morgan’s “fearless sacrifice” isn’t it today. The notion of changing perspective to move forward is close, but not entirely right either. It is more a message of “pause and reflect” with greater force and authority and urgency than you would see when this same message comes through the seven of pentacles.

Now may not be the time to jump in with both feet. Now is not the day to engage frenetic summer mode. It feels like this energy might be trying to point to summer as a whole, actually. Despite its somber origins, here in the U.S. Memorial Day is the de facto kickoff to summer and its usual push to get in as much recreation as humanly possible. Most years the first half of summer usually feels like that old surf song from the 60s Wipe Out. Today’s advice from the card feels more like a slow R&B groove like “That’s the Way Love Goes” by Janet Jackson, or maybe “Summertime and the Living is Easy” from Porgie and Bess or “Humanz” by Gorillaz. Lyrically, the Gorillaz song makes the most sense, especially the line about “Calling the world from isolation.” We’ve all been through a thing or two the past couple of years. You don’t go straight from being in a coma to running a four minute mile. Yeah, be outside, do stuff, mask up when you need to and wash your dang hands but be chill and ease back into life with kindness. Slow forward progress is still progress. Cool your jets, move forward with kindness to yourself and everyone else too. Slow down and THINK. We are being a chance to savor and contemplate life a little bit. Today is an opportunity in slow.

Thanks so much for reading & listening. I especially appreciate it on days when the message is condensed and to the point like it is today. I hope you’ll keep coming back for these little sips of Tarot wisdom both big and small.

If you want a full cup of Tarot all your own, private readings by email are always available on the blog & podcast website. The link is in the episode description for podcast listeners. The blog, the podcast and the companion YouTube videos that show the real world card draw for these posts and episodes are not monetized and need your support. If you enjoy this Tarot content, please visit the TaoCraft Tarot ko-fi page in the episode description. Shop and membership proceeds contribute to creating this free to access Tarot content for everyone. I appreciate your help.

Any likes, subs, shares, follows, questions or comments you can spare are always appreciated too.

Thanks again for listening. See you at the next sip!

Speed – or not

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. U.S. readers: Private email Tarot readings open and available to purchase throughout the Memorial Day holiday weekend, no appointment needed.

Hi and welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is the Wheel of Fortune from the Alleyman’s Tarot deck. The image for this card is credited as the Besancon Tarot copyright BnF (the digital national library of France.) As I understand things, this is a popular eighteenth and nineteenth century deck very similar to the Marseille deck but with a few localized changes as it was printed in Switzerland and Germany. You don’t need to know all that sort of thing to be a good Tarot card reader, but I enjoy it. Call it what you will, be it academic discipline leftover from writing my dissertation, my need for a high level of professionalism in my Tarot practice or just plain getting brain-gasms at learning cool things.

In any case, The Wheel of Fortune is one of those with fairly consistent imagery and meanings across most Marseille based or RWS type Tarot decks. Its core meaning is that everything changes. This card is the nemesis of control freaks everywhere. It also reminds us of randomness, chance and fate.

Everything changes. It can change with speed. Or not.

A wheel is a very primal thing and a potent symbol. They have been around for a long, long time. We understand how they work. They symbolize change, forward progress, ease of movement. Wheels symbolize impermanence, reincarnation, while the circle shape symbolizes perfection for Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. In the context of Tarot, the wheel symbolizes all of these things, but with an emphasis on randomness, chance and fate. Think of carnival games, the TV game show or the scene from “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” where a spinning wheel sets the punishment for deal-breakers in Bartertown.

The only certainty is that the wheel will spin. Wheels move. Even if they don’t, there are changes and consequences as a result of the stillness and stagnation. Wheels always move, if not through space then certainly through time.

The Wheel reminds us to savor the good while we can and to hold on to persistent hope that things will improve (in other words, keep moving to the front door of your sanctuary – as the 5 of pentacles recently advised)

Everything changes, but we don’t know and can’t control how fast the wheel of fortune may spin.

Thank you for listening and reading. If you enjoy the blog-cast and the companion videos on YouTube please consider liking, following, & sharing them. Please also visit the TaoCraft Tarot page on ko-fi. Shop purchases, memberships and virtual coffees all contribute to creating this free to access Tarot content.

This episode was produced on May 27, 2020. Private email readings with the blog author are open and available for purchase on the blog website throughout the upcoming US Memorial day holiday weekend, with no appointment needed. Links are in the episode description for podcast listeners.

Comments are open on the blog. Your questions and comments are always welcome. See you at the next sip!

Don’t Let Fear Overwhelm the Facts

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee.

Welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is the Five of Pentacles from the classic 1909 Waite Smith Tarot.

Today’s Card seems to be asking to be put in the broader context of cards from the past few days, which in itself is a helpful message for me.

Spring is always slow for Tarot. Even after all these years, it makes me worry about taxes and bills and all the rest of it. The artwork on the card looks pretty dire, especially for a pentacles card. It can put money anxiety right in the pit of your stomach with one look. Which is kind of the point of it. The card is important for the way it acknowledges difficult times. The card doesn’t sugar coat anything. It validates any fear or worry you might be feeling. It hears you and sees you and whatever challenges life might be dumping on you right now. The card is validating but it is also reassuring. The light through the window and the church looking building in the background is intended to symbolize shelter and refuge and help available in times of need. This builds a connection to the Hope card in the “anchor rock” post and episode a few days ago.

Pentacles are earth connected and have to do with the physical realm. This points to practicality and mindfulness, in contrast to the pure emotion and melancholy we see in the five of cups. Both five cards are ominous in their own way, but the pentacles is about the practical real-world solution more than dealing with the emotion of a situation. If anything there is a sense of putting head over heart. The sanctuary in this case is the facts at hand and the cold hard reality of the present moment. That present moment focus connects with the vibe and grind, focus on what you are doing and work the problem energy from the Chariot card “Power Prompt” episode yesterday.

That is the top-line, high level message for today. If things seem bad, look at the facts and reality of the situation. It might suck, you might feel afraid and that is perfectly fine. The trick…today’s Tarot inspired life hack…is to put the fear in its place and try to not let it overwhelm your logical problem side. Let’s get literal with the image on the card. If you are poor, poorly dressed and in a snowstorm, the cold could pose a real life and death threat – but help is at hand. Shelter is right by your elbow if you can make it just a few steps more. It would be an avoidable tragedy for the figures to be so wrapped up in fear and emotion that they walk right by the life saving shelter. That is, I grant you, an overly simplified, melodramatic example but it puts small nuisance first world problems in perspective doesn’t it? Again, we have that advice from earlier cards to not make mountains out of molehills.

The thing that is interesting to me as a Tarot reader is the way this week’s cards offer you a concrete example of how Tarot readings are not tied to literal time and space. An intuitive message has unspooled over the course of days and was sent across the whole globe through the world wide webber net. Speaking of which – special hello to those of you who have viewed the website from Ireland, the UK, India, Brazil and all those other places. I appreciate you, all of you, every single reader, listener and subscriber / follower!

During this slow business, slightly confidence rattling time of year, it’s been nice for me to see this slowly evolving but still cohesive message emerge. It proves yet again that email readings really are as functional and valid as in person readings. We’ve seen it in action right here. Multiple cards connecting across space and time to give a little advice. With the energies such as they are right now, it might be all to easy to feel a little afraid. There may be very real challenges going on and storms on the horizon so to speak. This set of cards over these few days reminds us to use any help at hand, work the problem, be in the moment and keep a cool head. Don’t make mountains out of what could in time turn out to be an anthill.

If we can get cohesive inspiration from two or three cards strung out over a week and focused on a broad online and social media audience, imagine what five or seven cards in one email document focused on you individually can do.

But back to the five of pentacles. It’s a simple, straightforward reminder that even though things may be kinda terrible in some moments, help exists in the world. Keep walking and you’ll find the front door. The energy message really is akin to that old World War Two British poster to “keep calm and carry on” although it is coming through clairaudiently as “stay chill and work the problem.” Today is a day for head over heart and trying to keep fear from overwhelming the facts.

Thank you so much for listening! Your support through likes, follows, shares, questions and comments is always appreciated.

If you would like to give one of those private, individually focused email readings a try, they are available in the “no appointment needed” tab at the top of this blog page, in the menu on mobile, or on the blog website in the podcast episode description.

Or please visit the Tao Craft Tarot ko-fi page also linked in the description. Proceeds from the shop, memberships and virtual coffees are used to create this blogcast and the youtube videos of the real-world Tarot card draw that goes with each short sip post and episode.

Thanks again for reading and listening! See you at the next sip

Power Prompt

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today: Chariot Power Prompt

Welcome to the TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.

As much as I am loving the Alleyman’s Tarot, I’m feeling the need to haul the envelope in a little bit and retreat to a more familiar deck. But that’s life. That’s living with harmony with the flow of it. There is yin. There is yang. There are times to push the envelope. There are times to haul it back in again. There are times to just vibe and grind.

Today’s card is the Chariot from the major arcana. It is a good example of just that kind of yin and yang flow. Sometimes The Chariot can be very high minded and conceptual. Sometimes it is a prompt to power ahead and let it all roll.

Remember yesterday’s Tarot reading hack, with its reminder to work smarter, not harder? Today continues that thread a little bit. You know that part about just throwing your own intuition down on a very basic conceptual foundation and just calling it a day? It doesn’t always work.

Sometimes even the best of us need some hard core inspiration.

Most often The Chariot card gives an energy of mindfulness and and being fully engaged in the present moment. It is a place of power, but I would consider it a yin power where taking in the moment and taking in much needed information as well as acting on it.

This morning, however, I got nothin’.

So what do you do when the intuition tank seems empty? What do you do when there isn’t anything to throw down on the cards foundation?

You go out and get yourself some inspiration, that’s what. Nevermind the high minded woo woo. Sometimes you have to drive your chariot right over the big empty and go get what you need.

We all stand on the shoulders of giants in the hopes of being someone else’s giant someday. In the meantime, it is perfectly OK to go foraging for your food for thought. If you get stuck reading a Tarot card or doing a Tarot layout for yourself, don’t sweat it. That’s why decks come with little white books. That’s why a library’s worth of reference and guide books have been written. That’s why I and bazillion other Tarot readers post and podcast and reach out to you like this. We can all inspire and motivate each other on those days when we need it.

That’s just what I did today. The usual meaning for the card just wasn’t cutting it, so it was time to fire up the chariot and go looking for inspiration. Went to some of my favorite references like Animal Wise Tarot by Ted Andrews, Magical Tarot, Mystical Tao by Diane Morgan, Heart of Stars Tarot by Thom Pham, Galaxy Tarot by GalaxyTone, and Witches Tarot by Ellen Dugan.

Like all of the major arcana cards, The chariot has a second thread of meaning. Where it usually talks about the yin-power of mindfulness, sometimes it can point to the yang-power of determination, focus, willpower, forward motion and momentum.

Some days the Chariot reminds us to pay the heck attention to what we are doing. Other days it reminds us, to borrow a phrase, to just do it.

Thank you so much for listening! Your likes, subs, shares, follows, questions and comments are always appreciated!

If you are enjoying these posts, podcasts and the companion videos showing the real-world Tarot Card draw for the day, please visit the the Tao Craft Tarot page on ko-fi. Proceeds from the shop and memberships support the creation of this free to access Tarot Content.

Want more than a sip of Tarot? Have a full cup all your own: individual private email Tarot readings are available to order on the blog website, no appointment needed.

Thanks again and see you at the next sip!

Ain’t no big

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today the Page of Pentacles reminds us that it ain’t no big thing.

Welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s Card is the Page of Pentacles from the Alleyman’s Tarot deck, card artwork by Eli Norvell.

Here is your Tarot life hack.

When you are reading a card, look at the foundation meaning, then add your intuition on top.

Easy.

In this case we have a base of page cards that symbolize learning and pentacles that symbolize our relationship with the physical realm. Intuitively I get the word “easy” and the mental image of that old office supply store commercial with a big read button with the word easy on it.

It would be nice if this means that life will be as magically easy as it is in the world of television ads. But I don’t think that is what spirit, energy, and the card are really trying to say. Life can be hard enough on its own. We don’t have to add to that. Let things be easy and fun whenever you can.

Perception and intention are everything in Tarot, spirituality, personal growth, quality of life, dare I say magick. This is the part where experience, study and a professional’s opinion might come in handy. It takes a little work and experience to connect a random card to a mental image of a television commercial to a meaningful idea we can all apply to make life a little better.

Some days intuition is all POOF and easy and spiritual and satisfying … other days it’s like a mental Rube Goldberg machine. Today is a little bit of both. We have to connect a few dots including a random card, a TV ad easy button and a practical need to drum up a useful idea for today’s post.

Luckily pentacles are practical cards, and today’s dots are, well, practical and easy.

This episode and post is case in point. It serves no purpose to try and make this into some big dramatic spiritual lesson. The bottom line is that it is OK for some things to be easy. It is ok for things to be out of hand, down to earth, and no big deal. Being difficult and complicated doesn’t necessarily add value, but it does add cost. We may feel more accomplished or productive when we overcome challenges but it doesn’t have to be that way every single time. Streamlining and making things more easy has value too. Making things easy gives us a very valuable gift: the ability to give our time and attention to other things.

This playful, forward looking card reminds us not to spend time and energy when it isn’t necessary. Don’t overthink. Don’t make mountains out molehills. Let things be easy when they can be. Learn a life hack. Or better still, invent one for yourself. Then you spend the energy and effort you save on the things that matter the most: you and those you love.

Thank you so much for reading and listening! Any likes, subs, shares, follows, questions or comments are always appreciated. Blog comments are open and I’m on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook most days.

If you are enjoying these posts and episodes, please visit the TaoCraft Tarot Ko-fi page. Proceeds from the shop and memberships supports the creation of this free to access Tarot content. Want more than a sip? Get a big cup all your own. Private email Tarot Readings with the blog author are available to order anything, no appointment needed, on the blog website. Links are in the episode description for podcast listeners.

Thank you again. See you at the next sip!

Found Family

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today we talk about found family and stray cat royalty.

Welcome to the TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.

I’m still exploring the Alleyman’s Tarot by Seven Dane Asmund. Today’s card is the Queen of Strays.

My first early morning coffee deficient impulse response to the card was my inner three year old yelling KITTY!

But honestly, though, there are worse ways to start a Monday morning than a picture of a cat.

My Aunt used to have an orange tabby with a vibe a lot like the queen in the box on the card. I imagine that if Pumpkin had a human voice she would have sounded like Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey. Pumpkin was a rescue like all the other cats my aunt ever had. She was legendary for bringing home every stray around when she was a kid. To this day, she is the neighborhood cat whisperer.

If we humans have the capacity to form relationships with the strays of other species, then think about how much stronger the bonds between found humans can be.

In that respect, the internet is a glorious thing. I’ve had conversations with people who I never would have met otherwise in more places than I could ever afford to visit. I’ve had conversations in Esperanto with a Japanese doll designer and a German Reggae singer. I’ve built years-long friendships with an energy healer in Albuquerque, a writer and two Tarot readers in Canada plus a voice actor on the entire opposite side of the country (insert Nineth World Journal and Oz 9 fangirling here.)

I’ve done email Tarot readings that started wonderful conversations with lovely people on the entire opposite side of the planet in Australia, India, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

Meat space can be just as glorious as cyber space if we let it.

Have you ever been to a comic con or a concert for your favorite band? That is a glimpse of how like minds and found family can feel. For some of us that found family, that sense of tribe and community can be desperately important.

I’ve been lucky in negotiating these things. I’ve avoided the land mines that have exploded friend’s families over smaller religious and political differences. I’ve lived in the white evangelical subculture. I grew up in what we now call “MAGA” culture. It isn’t an exaggerated news media trope. The danger and emotional damage of rejection and homelessness and worse is very real especially for lgbtquia teens in the so-called red states and red counties.

We all have to do all we can to protect the vulnerable among us. Each of us must be the Queen or King of strays. Vote. Be kind. Advocate for equality and inclusion. Most of all be your true self when you can.

For we adults, it’s usually easy, safe and cheap. You never know when letting your true self show might make a younger found family member feel a little less alone. Letting your true light shine might throw a some encouragement into a dark corner where it is needed. A little kindness and a little authenticity can make you stray cat royalty.

That’s why I love this card today. Families of heart are just as real and valid as the genetic kind. They feed your soul. I’m old and lucky and privileged, but I still remember going to a U2 concert in the 80s and feeling like I found “my people.” I still remember the giddy joy of watching the Reason Rally in 2016 and seeing the Ron Reagan unabashed atheist commercial. It is one thing to intellectually know you are not alone, but it is another thing altogether to really feel and experience that there are others “like me.” I remember doing Tarot readings at a theater after party one time and feeling ridiculously happy in that diverse, accepting, loving group of people especially after getting a quick hello hug from a seven foot tall drag queen. It doesn’t matter how your stray-ness is defined, be it race, religion, gender identity, sexual preference, or what have you – strays of every type nurture and care for each other because we all know what it feels like to be the only one.

Thank you so much for listening. All very best wishes to all of you, my found Tarot Tribe. See you at the next sip!

Are you enjoying these free to access sips of Tarot? If so, please visit the TaoCraftTarot ko-fi page. Shop and membership proceeds support the blog and podcast. The link is in the episode description for podcast listeners. Want a whole cup of Tarot all your own? Private email readings with the blog author are available to order 24/7, no appointment needed on the blogcast website.

Anchor Rock

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Want a whole cuppa Tarot all your own? Private readings with the blog author are available by email and can be ordered 24/7 no appointment needed

Welcome to the blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here. TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. If you are enjoying these blog posts and podcast episodes, I hope you will visit the TaoCraft Tarot page on K0-fi and consider becoming a patron of the Tarot arts. The link is in the episode description for podcast listeners. Proceeds from the ko-fi shop and memberships all support the creation of posts and episodes like this one. Thank you so much for your support. Your likes, subs, follows, shares, questions and comments are always, always, always welcome and appreciated!

Let’s start today with one of my favorite ideas on the planet: wabi sabi.

No, it isn’t that green paste that comes with sushi, although I like THAT a lot too.

As I understand it, wabi sabi is a philosophy and an aesthetic that values things as they are and sees beauty in natural, spontaneous imperfections and asymmetries. Old but valued ceramics are preserved and repaired with great care, sometimes highlighting the repairs with precious metals. I’m no expert. I’m not even average-level knowledgeable about Japanese or Chinese thought or culture. All I know is that everything I’ve ever learned about Taoism, Zen and wabi sabi has helped me to live a better life and be a better person. For that, I am deeply grateful. These ideas have time and time and time again proven to be my unshakable rock in every storm, just like the rock and anchor on today’s card, the Hope card from the Alleyman’s Tarot deck.

Speaking of spontaneous imperfections, the card is mislabeled in the video. The intuitive message from the card was, however, clear, concise and clairaudient (meaning the intuition came as mental words this time instead of the usual clairvoyant mental images.) It came in two parts.

First, “Storms will always come.”

The first noble truth of Buddhism is the truth of suffering. First on the list of world religions on that old 80’s T shirt is Taoism with the assertion that “shit happens.” Things break. Things are uneven. Stuff happens and sooner or later storms always come.

And it’s beautiful, because it is alive and it is real.

L’esperance, as the card is actually named, is a French word meaning hope. Storms will come. Sometimes the only hope is to find a rock and hang on.

The second half of the clairaudient message is “Know your rock.”

A paramedic instructor once told me that if you prepare for the emergency, then the emergency goes away. The same thing applies here. Knowing which ideas and philosophies you can trust makes life’s inevitable stress just that much less intimidating. Question everything. When it comes to beliefs or dogma or other peoples unsupported assertions, questioning is invaluable. It may take a trial by skeptical fire to find out what really is your philosophical storm shelter. If you know your rock, if you know where to find your anchor when the storm comes then you just might make it through to the other side intact enough to glue things back together and paint the cracks with gold.

I’m not here to tell you what your rock or your anchor is or should be. It is difficult, if not impossible for one person to determine that for another. The things I was taught as a child should be my strength and stronghold crumbled to dust and nothing at first contact with adulthood. I’ve since learned that it is much better to scout out the territory for yourself. Trust yourself to know what gives you hope. Trust yourself to lean on ideas and know what holds you up and what doesn’t. Explore new ideas and challenge old ones. Give them all a good hard kick and see if they hold strong for you. If they do, grab on because storms will always come and it pays to know your rock.

Thank you so much for listening. See you at the next sip.

L’Esperence (Hope) image from the Fancy Minchiate Tarot, cited copyright “BnF” This card from the Alleyman’s Tarot deck by Publishing Goblin LLC, used with permission.

Ride the Upside Down

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today: the King of Swords teaches us to surf the upside down.

Welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is the King of Swords, in reverse.

This big, slide prone Alleyman’s Tarot deck seems to like reversals. They feel the same and have the same message energy as reversals with other decks, despite being more frequent. That being said, the reversals with this deck seem to still be significant, despite being more frequent. So far, I haven’t gotten any of those “meh, it’s random, just turn it over and go on moments” like we’ve talked about before when it comes to reversals. This feels like turbulent energy more than an outright blockage.

Swords are air and intellect. Kings are leaders. They are in charge. Put those two together and you get a dispassionate, cool headed energy. In his interpretation of the card for the Alleyman’s Deck, Seven Asmund points out a sense of orderliness about the card.

Some people blame it on our view of Mercury in the sky. Some people blame it on a full moon. Hard data debunks any correlation between moon phase and human behavior, but my days working inpatient psychiatry begs to differ. Whatever the cause or irrational correlation, we are nevertheless left with the reality that life is messy. Things get irrational, chaotic, problematic, and way out of our control sometimes.

To quote the essence of Taoism according to the 1980’s T-shirt about world religions: shh -stuff happens.

I keep getting mental images of a knight in armour or the king of swords on a surfboard. Surfing is an apt analogy for today’s card. You can’t control the ocean. You can line up and order every wave that comes to shore.

If the king of swords in reverse hints at chaos, you can surf the wild changes. Chaos may reign, disorder may abound, everything may be outside of your control, but you are still in perfect control of you and your response to the upside-down-ness of it all. If you can’t control the wave, surf it in to shore. If you can’t turn things right side up, ride the upside down until it turns on its own.

Thank you so much for reading and listening. Your likes, subs, shares, virtual coffees, questions and comments are always, always, always appreciated.

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I need to do a little real life upside down surfing myself, so short sip will return on Friday. Have a great week everyone!

Ease up on the woo woo

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today, quotes about Alan Watt’s potatoes and Mark Salzman’s donkey.

Welcome to the TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is the eight of pentacles.

The pentacles are always grounded, practical cards and today is no exception.

The interesting thing about today’s card is it is reverse engineered. I don’t know about you, but the phrase “reverse engineered” always makes me think of science fiction, alien technology, conspiracy theories and that time people were Naruto running around area 51.

Maybe retrofit would be a better word. If you are interested in elevating your intuitive connection to Tarot, one good way to do that is to come up with an idea and then see what cards come to mind that represent the idea rather than choosing a card at random and letting that prompt the idea. You retrofit the idea to the card instead of the other way around.

Today, the energy around here is decidedly NOT spiritual or woo woo. Which is fine. It is a western, puritanical notion to think that we must constantly strive and work for spirituality and personal improvement. Sometimes the best thing do is do what needs done without all the woo woo or striving or self-judging. Sometimes you just have to sit on your workbench and hammer the dents out of your pentacles before moving on. Today’s energy pointed to the Eight of Pentacles instead of the card pointing out the energy.

Think for a moment about Mark Salzman’s donkey and Alan Watt’s potatoes.

As I’ve said a hoo-zillion times, this is just like when Alan Watts said that “Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about god while you peel the potatoes. Zen spirituality is to just peel the potatoes.”

In Taoism it IS personal growth and spirituality to live in harmony with nature. In this case nature means your feelings and energies for the day as much as the rocks and trees kind of nature.

Mark Salzmen, author and martial artist, once recounted the Chinese proverb that “it is the height of stupidity to go searching for the donkey you are already riding upon.

In Wicca for the Solitary Practitioner, author Scott Cunningham has said “the feeling is the power.” So if you are feeling pulled to the mystical or spiritual side of life today, by all means follow that feeling. If you are feeling like having a sammich and streaming your favorite movie, that’s an ok feeling to follow too.

It’s the trend line, not the individual day or data point.

All of those things point to letting the woo woo rest for a bit, and LIVE the things you’ve already learned. Do the things you already know to do. How is state of constant striving any better than not striving at all? Show yourself a little self love by accepting who you are right now and just go about your day with no pressure on yourself for a change. Immerse yourself in the day, and do the do. Do the do regardless of how stressed or how ordinary it all is at the moment.

Stop looking so hard and vibe with your donkey while peeling today’s potatoes. Live what you know for a while before striving to learn more.

Thank you so much for reading and listening.

I always appreciate any likes, subs, shares, follows, questions or comments that you can spare.

Proceeds from private reading sales and from the ko-fi page all contribute toward creating this free to access blog and podcast.

See you at the next sip!