Tag: tarot card

Welcome Back 2025 (part 1)

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

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Some years have a recycled, ‘lather, rinse, repeat’ feel about them just like 2021 & 2022 energy felt like a continuation of 2020. 2025 is not one of those kinds of years.

The advantage to reading for multiple other people, or a daily meditation practice for yourself is seeing larger patterns emerge over a period of time and across multiple readings. It is like a meta-reading that unfolds over the course of weeks instead of minutes.

One pattern I saw during the holiday into new year season was a message of progression through challenges and upheaval toward a “happy ending.” Almost all of the readings in the past few weeks have had a feeling of something good on the other side of whatever sh-tstorm comes our way in 2025. Intuitively, the energy came through as “happy endings,” the Avril Lavigne song “happy endings” and a sense of “2026.” In short, hang on, better things are on the other side.

Of course, things getting better means change. Change includes loss and grieving. Change includes letting go of bad things to make room for the good. Change includes the arrival of happy things, too.

2025 seems to be a year of change, and my goal for this year is to flow with that change as best as I can.

After all, that’s the Taoist approach. Time and time and time again, that philosophy has brought me enormous comfort in the most stressful times. I honor that. It’s right there in the name of this website, and hopefully, through the title of a book I hope to write: TaoCraft Tarot.

That’s the first change for 2025. This will be the first full year of TaoCraft 2.0, so to speak. “Sage Words Tarot” was heading toward all of the inauthentic ‘comply in advance’ fearfulness that led to adopting the TaoCraft name in place of “Modern Oracle” in the first darn place back in 2018.

Letting all the “Sage Words Tarot” stuff expire will save a little time and expense on my part, which in turn will help me keep prices steady for you.

The second change is that I’ll be focusing on email and pre-recorded video readings. If I’m honest with myself, that is the kind of reading that I do best. I write much more powerfully than I speak, and I speak with more impact when I can back up and edit. The end result is a superior quality reading for you, and a much more comfortable reading process for me. Steady prices, better process, best quality; it’s a win-win-win all around.

All of that being said, time flies when life is a squirrel rave.

They say re-introducing yourself and your services is a good idea, especially when you have a social media presence. Never did get all of the posts written that I wanted to do for a Fall refresh and re-introduction. Lesson learned. This is a once, at most twice per year thing.

This time around, I’ll condense it all into one post.

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough”

Albert Einstein

2025 might be a whole new thing, but welcome back to TaoCraft Tarot.

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You can also follow Sage Sips tarot content on Ko-fi and Substack (yes, I know, Substack – all the posts are free this time around)

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Choose Your Tarot Card: 9 Jan 25

Thanks for reading! I appreciate all of you!

Choose your card. First impulse is usually best, but if you want to take more time feel free to pause the video and restart to see the reveal

Strength: Work hard, play hard. You are strong. Use that strength in all aspects of life: for others, for yourself, for work, for play, to grow, to rest…you got this.

Hanged Man: Timing is everything. A little wait now could have benefits later. Watching, waiting, planning are all doing something. Mental and emotional activity counts, even if it isn’t outwardly visible.

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No Reason Not To

New Years Private email Tarot readings are OPEN all week, no appointment needed.

“Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that’s no reason not to give it”

Agatha Christie (probably my spirit guides too)

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Get the most from your holidays – or not.

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I doomscroll way too much.

Still, it’s amusing how you can read social media a bit like you read the cards to get a sense of the big picture, zeitgeist, collective energies. To do that you have to keep a meta-analytic mindset and look to the biggest big picture you can intuitively see. To read this level of energy, you have to look at the big picture.

Today’s big picture Zeitgeist is – the big picture. Perhaps perspective would be a better word. I wish I could give credit where credit is very much due, but as always, I can’t find the post I want to tell you about now that I’ve scrolled away from it.

I can’t even remember which platform it was on. Probably BlueSky or Threads (I’m @Sage.Sips on both) In any case the original post that caught my attention was from a small business owner who is stressing over the holiday rush and was told by her friend “It’s a craft show. In CLEVELAND” not to belittle this person’s efforts, but to in that oh-so-bestie way remind her that it wasn’t so earth-shaking when you keep it in the big picture perspective.

German has given the world some very fun and useful words. Zeitgeist is one. Shadenfreude is a personal favorite. Another is gestalt, the whole seen as the sum of its parts and occasionally more.

Mindfulness is like that.

Mindfulness is not just a supreme focus on the present moment or small detail of our current experience alone. It is awareness of the present moment AND the backdrop of the connected everything in which our current present moment experience is happening. Mindfulness and gestalt are connected. Small and large, this moment and eternity, yin and yang…now you know why I named my website and potential book “TaoCraft” in honor of the Taoist philosophies that have so enriched both gestalt and present moment for me over the years.

In her book Magical Tarot Mystical Tao, Diane Morgan reads the World major arcana card as being the gestalt, or a big picture point of view. That has always been my favorite interpretation of the card, even though as a practical matter that isn’t the meaning the World card most often brings. Most of the time it resonates with completion (World is the last card in the major arcana series) good omens, success, generally a “the world is your oyster” feeling. Major arcana cards carry more energy, and to my way of thinking, they all carry two or more potential threads of message. They can mean different things, and can bring one or more of those varying meanings to any given reading.

Every now and then, the World card carries its reminder to look to the gestalt, to remember the biggest picture. That is its energy today.

I want to connect that to the holidays. Usually this time of year is full “Elfcon 1” as they called it in the Santa Clause movie. For reasons beyond my control, it isn’t like that this year. This year the mood is less festive and more middle age INTP genX fresh out of fucks to give. But I’ve learned something important here. Getting the most out of the holidays isn’t about full throttle festivity, unless that is the thing that sparks full throttle joy for you.

It is just as fine to make the most out of the holidays by not making the most out of the holidays. Small, meaningful and thoughtful things ARE making the most out the holidays.

Mindfulness aware of and within the big picture is an excellent holiday gift to give yourself.

Happy Thursday. I hope it is a good one for you.

-Sage

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“Seasons” look ahead at the coming year are now available. Happy Winter Solstice everyone!

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Measure

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

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Martin Luther King Jr. via brainyquotes.com

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Still no, but in a good way

Sage Sips blog is Tarot in the time it takes to sip your emotional support coffee

On Fridays, I want to get back to writing “Weekend Oracle” and draw an Oracle card to get a feel for the weekend energies and maybe get a hint how to best navigate this liminal time. Not everyone gets a work break on the weekends, and they may enjoy the same heads up the rest of us like on Mondays. Plus, with the vast majority of folks on a weekday schedule, weekends have a different vibe, they are the space between work week for the majority of us. Weekends have a different vibe, and a touch of that liminality where magic lives.

I started to do that today, but still got the intuitive ‘nope’. Halloween last night might have been a pressure valve. The collective energy here in the US may have taken a deep breath, a long drink of a cold beer and a hefty dose of chocolate last night, but things may re-ramp up as we sprint to the finish line with this election thing as far as the actual voting goes.

So nope.

I’m still going on meatspace sabbatical for collective energy readings. Y’all on your own with whatever coping skills you already have on board (reaches for coffee and emotional support Doritos)

Private readings, however, are a whole different story.

I’ve been doing those all along, and last night was the first time in a while they layouts weren’t all supercharged with big time major arcana energy. There were major arcana cards all around, so no stagnant or stuck-energy messages, but nothing over the top either. All very pleasant and positive, actually.

Encouraged by that, I drew a “weekend update” Tarot card this morning for myself rather than the collective. It may apply to a broader audience – In fact, I hope this is a collective reading even though I’m not inclined to really read it that way.

Eww – no – still too sticky mess melange of right wing-y nazi-ish nastiness out there, despite it being a sunny, cool, pleasant morning where I am…

So still no on the collective energy read, but in a good way.

The card was the Sun which is about as all-good as Tarot gets. It is a card of happiness, optimism, joy, success and all of those things we like to hear. I’m not so overly optimistic as to think of this as a good omen for the election outcome, but it is going to be OK between now and Tuesday.

There is just as much chance of happiness as there is of anything else.

Thanks for reading! See you at the next sip!

Solitude doesn’t have to be lonely

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

“There is a difference between solitude and loneliness”

Maggie Smith

“There is a difference between solitude and loneliness” – Maggie Smith

The source wasn’t cited, but recently on social media someone posted a meme that said something along the lines of “Loneliness is the price you pay for personal growth.”

Yes and No. 

On one hand, it is a very common thing that I’ve seen time and time and time again in Tarot clients – and have experienced myself…

When you heal or grow as a person, old connections often fall away. Sometimes you simply outgrow old friends or family members. Sometimes you all are growing in lovely, healthy, beautiful ways – but in entirely different directions. Whatever the reason, that change can feel very lonely. 

Your path to wisdom, autonomy, and emotional maturity is uniquely your own so yes, your spiritual path is one you by definition must walk alone. 

But no, it need not be lonely. Not at all. 

“There is a difference between solitude and loneliness.” We walk our spiritual paths alone, but it can be a journey of peaceful solitude rather than painful loneliness. 

As old friends fall away, we can hold space for new ones to come along. When we are true to ourselves and learn to make peace with our path, we often find ourselves in more company than we expected. “Your vibe calls your tribe” as the saying goes.

If our path is lonely rather than peaceful solitude, it begs the question of who are we lonely for? Are we lonely for other people or are we lonely for a happier version of ourselves? Being at peace with outer life can only begin with accepting and making friends with our inner selves. When the Hermit on the card holds his lantern up to a mirror, what does he see? 

The beautiful part of walking a solitary path is that it is still progress. If you don’t like what you see in the Hermit’s mirror, change it. In the words of Alan Watts “You are under no obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago.”

This kind of change is well within your power to do, but it has risk. 

For good or for bad, other people might not like the changes you make. The change, like the Hermit’s lamp, brings the problems to light. Those who never respected you in the beginning, those who take advantage of you or project their issues on to you are probably the only ones falling away. The unhealthy relationships are the first to go. The people who need you to be at your worst are often the first to fade away when you are at your best.

Alone need not be lonely. Sometimes alone is freedom. Time alone often gives your spirit the space to heal. No one can do that for you. The key to transforming loneliness into peaceful solitude is not other people. It’s you, making peace with you.

Loneliness isn’t a call to fill an empty spot with another person. Loneliness is a call to fill the emptiness with the best version yourself. 

Q&A: Work & Retirement

Visit the “Ask Me Anything” page to get a free Tarot answer as a blog post like this one

Related posts:

Q: Will I be at same job and company I have now til I retire? At what age should I retire?

Hi ****

Thank you so much for your question. I hear you. Career and money is such a huge part of our lives. It occupies an enormous chunk of our time and mental bandwidth so I applaud you for giving it this kind of care and attention. Work and retirement are a big part of life as a whole. The happier you are as a whole person, the more present you can be in all the non-work aspects of life too. When work and career are in a good place, then we can turn our best attention to putting or keeping the other parts of life in a good place, too.

Unfortunately, the honest answer to your question is that Tarot can’t give you a fair answer to this at all.

“Will” is always a problematic way to think of things when it comes to psychic and Tarot readings because, as I’ve said a zillion times, Tarot can’t tell you what will happen in life, Tarot helps you figure out what to do when life happens.

It is all up to you. The answers to your questions are already in your hands and always have been.

Will you stay I this company? I dunno.

Are you planning to quit? Are you looking for other work? Have you done anything to get fired? Is there any risk of layoffs? Is the company solvent enough to last until you retire? Tarot can’t predict these things so Tarot can’t tell you if you will be at this job until you retire.

More importantly – do you WANT to stay at this company until you retire? If so, why? What about the job do you want to continue as part of your life? If this particular company or job goes away due to unforeseen circumstances beyond your control, what about this job would you want to replace? What about this job could you replace?

Now dig a little deeper. Why are you asking this question? Are you worried about the job’s stability? If it is unstable, do you need to make a backup plan instead of asking Tarot about it? Do you hate it and want to change? Worried about making enough income to live? How can you best meet this real, deep underlying need? Answer that and the need to know “if” or “will” this job last until retirement goes away and puts the power squarely in your hands. Think about why you want to know if the job will last to retirement, then you know what to DO. You can think about ways to keep the job if you like it and what you need to do to replace it if it goes away.

When you should retire is absolutely positively up to you, your individual situation, and your actual financial resources. Retirement timing is 1000% NOT a question for Tarot. That calls for real-world logic and financial know-how. If you don’t know what you need, then it is important to talk to a financial advisor, or someone knowledgeable about retirement planning. Assess your needs logically and crunch the numbers and get real, expert guidance if you need it. Asking me, an artist, what age you should retire is like asking a plumber about your coronary bypass.

All of that being said, let’s pull a card that should give you one of two things:

Either it will give you a place to start thinking about these work related things, OR it will nudge you to look at something outside of your career that needs your attention. If your career path is unclear right now, that might be a hint from the universe that something else needs your attention first, and getting that something in order might, in turn, make the job and retirement question come into better focus for you.

Your card today is JUSTICE

This is from the major arcana portion of the Tarot deck. Major arcana cards typically carry higher energy, a bigger emotional impact, big life lessons or an important turning point in life. Retirement decisions certainly qualify for that!

The old fashioned way of reading cards connects Justice with literal legal concerns. So be on your guard, get good advice, don’t fall for anything scammy or shady out of fear or concern for retirement. This is not a time to “call Saul” as the television series goes.

Justice also points to wisdom, integrity and balance.

This is another reminder that retirement planning is a ‘use your head’ logic and fact driven decision primarily but also a reminder to keep the big picture in mind. “Work-life balance” comes to mind. Don’t sacrifice quality of life NOW with regards to health, family, relationships, friendships and the like for the sake of some arbitrary point in the future. That isn’t to say go all YOLO and be reckless or selfish now, that is to say to be mindful, appreciative and get the most emotional and spiritual connection out of this present moment as you can while at the same time you make reasonable plans for the future.

In other words, don’t sacrifice current quality of life on the alter of some arbitrary future point. Be adaptable. Keep the big picture in mind, making sure the big picture contains both the present needs and reasonable, logical future planning.

I hope that helps a little bit.

Best Wishes to you!

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Turn Stuck Upside Down

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