Sifu Gracenin told us that the best way to train for a thing is to do a thing.
The same is true of creative work – or anything really.
Creativity, new ideas, or enthusiasm for a project are all mercurial, wispy, unpredictable aspects of the human psyche. No wonder ancient Greeks and modern creatives alike blame the whole thing on a bunch of capricious Muses. You never know when you are going to get whacked with the cosmic shillelagh of creativity.
Which begs the question of what to do in the times in between, when your capricious Muses are missing in action and you are hit with an equally unpredictable time of uninspired apathy. To borrow a phrase from the sneaker people, just do it. “The best way to train for a thing is to DO a thing.”
Here is an analogy for the “My Hero Acedemia” and superhero fans out there…if you can only bring your superpower up to 5% today, OK, but DO that. But by doing that, you might be able to dial up the full cowling to 8% another day. If you persist at 5% power today and 8% later and so on, then you’ll be more ready and in a better place when time for full power comes along.
Or in other words, if you are feeling uninspired today, take it easy on yourself – on the inside – but still do what you need to do. The inspired feeling will come in its time. “Fake it until you make it” has its moments of utility. Work within your limits but don’t stop altogether. Continue to act within your ability, and in time your capability will increase whether you feel enthusiastic about it or not. Then you can be in a better, bigger place to act on creative inspiration whenever it does hit. That’s the sweaty part of the Thomas Edison quote “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration” but an important part just the same. Hiking along with your ordinary walking stick is as important as getting whacked with the cosmic inspiration stick we see on the Ace of Wands.
Back from a long weekend, normal hours the test of this week…email distance tarot, no appointment needed MOST readings delivered within 12 hours. Fastest service is daytime weekdays US eastern time. In-person individual sessions ard back, all the usual policies and restrictions apply, details HERE
Starting next week, in-person readings for individuals and bring-a-friend readings are back on a reduced summer schedule. Readings are weekday mornings and afternoons, with some limited evenings and Saturdays by special arrangement. Please ask for details. More HERE
Email TaoCraftTarot@gmail.com to schedule. 412.206.9171 is now for VOICEMAIL ONLY. Leave a message and I’ll get back to you asap to schedule your reading.
Masking is required for unvaccinated clients. I may wear one until we see what is going on with this delta variant thing. Masking requirements subject to change and based on CDC and health department guidance.
Individual and phone readings are closed July 16 – 20. Email readings are OPEN throughout that time but may have some slight delivery delays.
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Time is a thing, and it takes a lot of it to make a good brisket.
If you compare references and card decks, the Hanged Man is one of those cards that has widely disparate interpretations. Based on the energy around it today, I would guess it is because the card is one of those zeitgeist sensitive time sponges. Here’s what I mean by that:
Some cards are anchors. They are – almost – timeless, with deep roots in the fabric of everything. Their meanings and interpretations seem relatively steady over time and throughout multiple decks and references. Or so it seems in the world of Marseille / Waite-Smith based Tarot. I can’t speak for Lenormand style Tarot, but I suspect it is similar. Three of swords and the Moon are examples.
Other cards, like today’s, are more fluid. They adapt and lend themselves to intuitive needs of the moment like water taking the shape of its container. I’ve seen the card interpreted as meaning stagnation, self-sacrifice, transition, new perspectives, new perceptions, surrender, release, and initiation. Today’s energy would add deliberate waiting and a little well-placed patience. It has a slightly different tenor from the ‘wait and watch for the right time and opportunity’ message that might come from the two of wands or the more meditative quality of the four of cups or the resignation of the eight of cups.
The Hanged Man, for today anyway, is about cooling your jets while in full active engaged realization that it takes as long as it takes. Let the planted seeds grow. You can’t hurry love.
It’s like making a really good brisket.
I’m not the carnivore I used to be, but I’m not vegan by any means. True to my love of Taoist philosophy, I prefer the middle way. Thanks to that and my husband’s family reunion, I have had genuine Texas brisket. It had been smoked for something crazy like 24 hours. It was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever stuffed in my food hole. It wouldn’t have been that way without that one critical ingredient: time.
That old margarine commercial might have said that it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature, but the truth is that you CAN’T. Low and slow meat smoking is just that…slow. You can’t make it go faster and get the same result. You can’t shove a frozen turkey into a 1000 degree oven and get anything other than a burned blob with botulism sauce.
All food cravings aside, the message isn’t a goodie two shoes entreaty to be blissfully patient. Who in human history has ever been calmed by being told to calm down? This is more about a deliberate, knowing, intentional well-placed taking of time.
It takes as long as it takes. Let it. Your brisket will be better in the end.
I’m vaxxed. So are a majority of folks over 12 in our county and community transmission is low per the cdc website.
So in keeping that data, in-person individual readings are back on a reduced summer scedule.
If you are not vaccinated, please wear a mask because nobody wants your delta varient cooties.
If you are not vaccinated ffs GET vaccinated, nobody wants you to die, either. Talk to your doctor if you have any concerns.
I’m not being rude, but I won’t be shaking hands and will be using hand sanitizer for both of our sakes.
Party Tarot is back with an updated service area starting in September…just in time to schedule for Halloween.
Masking policy and the status of in person sevices are subject to change. I’m following the data and setting the rules as the situation warrants. Because … science !!
Details HERE, link in profile. Image by @bitmoji (❤ that app)
I’m a clairvoyant and I have a confession: I’m a lazy, lazy psychic
This is a question that crossed my path out in meatspace, you know, in real life as the kids call it. They wanted to know if I keep anyone in mind when I do one card meditation readings on the blog
The lazy answer is no.
And yes.
When I do readings for the blog, youtube or social media, I don’t think of any ONE person in particular but I do try to keep everyone in mind.
Don’t try this at home kids. It really is as vague and confusing as it sounds.
Energetically speaking, it is a TON easier to do a big, complex layout with 5 or 7 or 10 cards for one specific person than it is to do a quick single card meditation reading for basically the whole internet.
That’s why I’ve been asking all of you to please please please submit your questions. It is SO MUCH easier to connect with all of you when we all have a shared question or topic in mind.
It really doesn’t take much to make a long distance connection like that. I’ve done email Tarot readings for clients in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea which is about as far away as it gets from the eastern united states. The part where you ask your question or give permission for an open reading is pretty much all it takes. Once you have that. Tiny spark of a connection, it dorsn’t matter whether we are using one card or a dozen, working across a table or across time zones, talking to one person or an entire internet audience.
That’s one reason why I am always EXTREMELY grateful when people let me share their questions with all of you like this. That one little bit of focus makes this whole blog and pod thing so much easier.
Aaaand as we have established – I’m lazy.
But no, MOST of the time I don’t have any one person or one question in mind when I do my “Today’s Tarot” posts, although I really enjoy it when I can.
At the same time, the whole *point* of doing a general audience reading IS to think of everyone and not just one person or question. I start each blog or youtube reading with the intention that the card will help the most people possible.
I don’t get a lot of feedback about these things, so I never know how well that plan works out. Even if my starting intention is to appeal to a lot of people, if a post or a video or a podcast helps just ONE person, then it was still worth it.
The public nature of all of this is another reason why I’m so grateful when people share their questions. Some people are understandably shy about asking questions in a public venue like this. I mean, why WOULD any rational person trust some rando stranger on the internet with an important or emotionally charged question?
So the casual, off hand question that YOU ask might turn out to be a big help to someone else out there in cyberspace.
If that’s all there was to it, doing an internet reading with the vague hope that it might resonate with somebody would be easy enough, BUT when you work with subtle energies, other subtle things can mess with the process.
Just like out in meatspace, cyberspace is … a space.
You know how in the real world a place or a room can carry a vibe?
Being outside in a forest FEELS different from being alone in a basement or overhearing an argument on the bus or being at a party with friends. The same is true in cyberspace. In my experience, websites and social media feeds have an energy to them too.
Energy is everywhere and intuition absolutely works at a distance. In most ways, doing readings in cyberspace is *exactly* like doing readings in real space. I think it is possible to set the tone and atmosphere in a website…or a podcast… just like you can decorate a room in the real world. Doing email Tarot readings or writing for the blog is as comfortable as sitting in my favorite chair with a cup of coffee . Reading on youtube is kind of like working at a fortune teller booth at a festival. Some places like snapchat and tictok are just not right for this kind of energy work.
When the idea for Clairvoyant Confessional came along, I imagined doing readings or answering questions here would be like a conversation among friends over a cup of coffee by a fireplace. I want the tone for the podcast to be calming and comfortable. I want it to FEEL like a relaxed space where you can feel safe asking questions
OR … you can just sit back and listen to me monologing like like some kind of comic book supervillian.
Either way, I hope that this podcast is a little bit entertaining or a little bit helpful for someone somewhere out there. If you DO have a question, any question, send it to me using the contact info in the episode description. I’ll do my best to give you an answer and I might even use an on air Tarot reading to do it.
The outro music that you hear is “Dimension” by the Pittsburgh band Dinosoul. Copyright Donny Donovan and Carolyn Hilliard, all rights are reserved, used here with permission. Please support local artists and musicians wherever you are.
Thank you so much for listening! I’ll see you on the print side and talk to you next time in the clairvoyant’s confessional.
Clairvoyant Confessional podcast is also available on Anchor Fm, Stitcher, Google podcasts, pocketcast and more.
PLEASE…consider this your slow rolling AMA…ask me anything. Bonus points if it about Tarot, intuition, clairvoyance, and such. Use the handy contact form below OR email ClairvoyantConfessional@gmail.com
It’s still summer allergy season, and my voice is showing it today. This week, the YouChoose Interactive reading is going to be a hybrid of blog post and YouTube video like we usually do during the week for the “Today’s Tarot” posts.
But it works the same. Pick a card. Choose on impulse, or if you want more time, pause the video then restart to see the reveal. Try not to read ahead if you want the full interactive, just-for-you experience.
Either way, even if you get a glimpse of the writing below, at least you know that this post, like all of them, is a reflection of a real-life, real-cards, random card drawing. Just like my InkMagic handwritten pen-and-paper Tarot readings, you get the best of both worlds: old school physical cards meets the convenience of internet access.
It doesn’t happen often, but two of the cards are reversed. If you pick one of them, please read this post about card reversals along with the short reading about this week’s energy for you.
Left: King of Swords. The energy here matches with the air-element, mentality & intellect connotations of the card. There isn’t as much of an outward leadership energy. It is more of inward sense of responsibility. Be a leader of yourself, for yourself…the king of your inner world. The cutting edge of the sword comes to attention and I hear “cut away the chaff” Cut through the noise and unnecessary details “cut to the chase” and get to the heart of the matter this week. It’s a good time for root cause analysis.
Center: Queen of Wands (reversed). Don’t hold back the joy. Celebrate your authentic self, and be joyful in other people’s authentic self expression too. Related post: Something Fabulous This Way Comes.
Right: Nine of Pentacles (reversed) Don’t draw things out past their prime – bring this puppy in for a landing. There is an energy of wrapping up, gathering up or gathering in. Pick up the leftovers and fall out and take inventory of all you have on hand. Sweeping up the confetti, and seeing how much glitter is left can help you plan your next parade. Finish, put the final touches and polish on a project. Finish something well and on a high note in order to build a good feeling and strong foundation for your next project or the next big phase of something in progress. Lots of career and work energy around this card.
It was years ago, but once I was hired to do Tarot readings for a local theater group’s party. The group included a few drag performers. I don’t know if any of them enjoyed the Tarot readings, but by the time it was all said and done I was happy to my absolute core. The energy in the room was bright and glittering and it was an honor to work with all of them. Everyone there was the definition of fabulous.
If it is OK with them, give a drag queen a hug and return some of the good vibes they so naturally and generously give. It will make your day.
Today’s card reminded me of that experience, which turned my thinking toward joyous, jubilant, glorious, gleeful, authentic self expression.? What would happen if we expressed ourselves TO ourselves with all the exuberance and fun of a drag cabaret?
Some people are natural extroverts and performers. No matter what their art form may be…theater, dance, film, live music….performing is the air that they breath and sometimes their livelihood too. For the rest of us, performance is more stress-inducing than life-giving. But, I wonder, what if we spent a little time expressing our authentic selves in a performance for an audience of one…oneself that is.
How would your day (or evening) be if you allowed yourself a little time to bask in your own quiet, queenly fabulousness. Find one darn little thing that you like about yourself and wallow in it. Amp it up as high the hairdo on an episode of Drag Race and BE fabulous, at least in your own mind just for a few minutes.
Now take that feeling of fabulousness and use it to fuel your connection to life, to love, to compassion, to everyone you care about.
In less time than it takes to paint your nails, something fabulous this way comes.
Today is a blustery kind of day for our card’s energy.
Some skeptics dismiss intuition and its tools like Tarot because the card meanings are vague and inconsistent. They are, but not because they are invalid, but because they are ephemeral. The cards are an ever-adapting look at ever-changing energies from one point of view within the flow of time. They are a localized look at a larger, fluid, energetic, dynamic system. That’s why they guide rather than predict. Saying Tarot is invalid because of inconsistent or vague card meanings is like saying the weather report is wrong because it changes every day.
Tarot is a creative prompt, not an immutable law of the universe.
So which prompt, which card meaning is right for you of all people and today of all days? THAT is where tools like Tarot, runes, numerology, astrology, etc meet their limit. They help us access our innate intuition, but they can never substitute for it. The image that comes to mind is a little like dry leaves in a whirlwind. There is a blustery swirl of meanings and energies here. Only you can know which leaf to grab out of the whirlwind of potential meanings. The word ‘local’ steps forward too. The local energy and mood is the one that needs our attention today. Today the card’s guidance is to focus on the treasure within and to trust your own understanding – even more than usual.
In other words the card’s message today is exactly that to trust and protect the inner treasure of your own good intuition. Intuition is usually the purview of cups cards and the water element, but in this case it is more about the protection (an earth element energy) and solid trust more than talking about the intuition itself.
It’s about the the real world, practical protection and application of your intuition. It’s a meatspace thing to borrow from William Gibson’s writing.
The four of pentacles has a variety of meanings. The four part can be associated with steadiness and stability, like the four legs of a chair or table. That’s where we get the protective, steady, trustworthy connotations for the card. I’m told that Chinese culture avoids fours because the word for four sounds like the word for die (but with different characters and tonal pronunciation) I wonder if that – energetically more than culturally or linguistically – is a connection to the more negative connotations for the four of pentacles like greed, and unwarranted miserliness.
Either way, try to think of the physical space actions that your intuition may need today. Do you need to set some atmosphere to help you hear the quiet whispers of intuition and spirit? Is this the day to get that incense or candle you’ve been saving for a special day? Is this the day to unplug from social media and find some physical quiet in order to feed your inner quiet? Many times we have a tendency to relagate those tangible actions to certain days of the week, or phases of the moon or what have you. Don’t wait. Do for your intuition. Guard it, protect your inner self from any toxic people or energies that may be lurking. The leaf for you from today’s whirlwind of meanings might be to reflect, like a bright coin…reflect or disperse any negative or toxic energies away from you. I suggest Ted Andrew’s excellent book Psychic Protection as well as the protective exercises in Mat Auryn’s recent book Psychic Witch (whether you consider yourself to be a part of the pagan or witch community or not, it is still a good, helpful visualization.) Black tourmaline comes to mind as a protective energy to wear or carry. It’s a do your homework kind of day. Part of the message is that it is up to you to look at the local energies and act to protect your inner energies and intuition if needed.
When the energy start repeating and going in circles like this, that is a good cue that the essential message is complete. I see a bow in deference to your knowing.
This is a start. This is a prompt. Now it is up to you to connect and protect. Connect to your intuition, connect your intuition to your individual real world situation, and protect your energy.
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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