Tag: tarot reader
Tarot Without a Net: The Chariot
I feel a movie mistake coming on, but I can make up for it with a double pop culture reference.
I’m guessing this is Ben Hur, with what I’ve heard is the most epic chariot scene ever filmed. Again, I haven’t seen it, except the chariot clip on award shows and such.
At first glance, it gives all the classic impressions associated with The Chariot: the need to focus, to be in the moment, give your full attention to something.
The gladiator image really catches my attention though. It expands my thinking about the card, actually. I see the gladiator presentation in terms of a warrior. As a martial artist (a little Kung Fu back in the day, now it is very casual, occasional Taijiquan and Qi gong) I’ve always kind of wondered which Tarot card would be the best “warrior” card. I don’t think you can narrow it down to one card, really. The whole concept is complex, and takes several cards to touch on all the philosophical facets of “warrior” especially in the honor/busidho sense of things. This comes very close, however.
Martial artists and warriors often meditate. According to curiosity.com Navy Seals do breathing patterns akin to yogic and meditation practices to enhance calm.
Calm, focused, in the moment, paying full attention to the task at hand…all traits that warriors and chariot drivers share (chariots were, after all, used in battle too)
Now for the artist’s guide…I’m curious to see if it really is Ben Hur.;;;\
LOL nope….Achellies in the movie Troy. Ah well. Haven’t seen that one either. But that is fine by me….I still like the artwork, color, composition of the cards even if I don’t get the exact movie reference
WHICH, by the way, is an excellent insight into how Tarot works overall. Spirit/energy/intuition might not give us the EXACT information of the message, the reading might not predict your true love’s hair color…but the essence of the message always somehow makes it through.
Oops…oh well. Puts me in the mood for that other pop culture reference. I liked the cartoon “Jimmy Neutron” as much or more than my daughter did. In one episode, Jimmy and Hugh go camping leaving Mrs. Neutron alone for the weekend. Her response? Gather up the dog and break out the cookie dough and gladiator movies. That sounds pretty in the moment…as in ENJOYING the moment….to me.
Wishing you a wonderful moment right here, right now.
Tarot Without a Net: The Lovers
*Spoiler Alert*
The boat sinks.
I’ve never seen “Titanic” and precisely zero interest in ever watching it. I don’t care for romance movies, and from everything I’ve heard the movie has a disturbing lack of comedy and/or spaceships.
I have no idea why the artist picked this image to represent heart’s desire, or even lusty romance. I’m not feeling a lot of connection with the deck through this card, probably from my impression of the movie it represents way more than the card or the artwork itself.
The Lover’s is an interesting and often misunderstood card, thanks to the movie mythos that the lovers card means a hot romance is on the way with the marriage of a lifetime soon to follow. In my experience, the card is far more abstract than that. It is more akin to “I love ice cream” than the handfasting, marriage, committed, soulmate, love of a lifetime energy that we see in the Two of Cups. The Lovers symbolizes the hot flame that burns short rather than the enduring ember that burns long. Don’t get me wrong, there is some connection, because many if not all long lasting relationships start with SOME sort of spark. Maybe that is why the artist chose this love story from a movie. Maybe the movie portrays a hot romance that gets cut short by a quick dunk in the north Atlantic. Still, it niggles at me that it is wrapped up in a romantic relationship. The Lovers card can be more than that….which is saying something considering how enormous romance is within the human heart. And that’s with leaving the hormones out of it. Like everything there is a two sided yin and yang of it. (See “Arcana in Balance: The Lovers from the Tarotbytes archives).
It isn’t to say that lust, sex, love, desire and full throttle joy of living is bad. Quite the opposite. On one hand, all of those things are part of normal human existence and is as worthy of acceptance as any other emotion. That physicality and abject hedonism is certainly one part of it, but it also transcends the physical. On the other hand, the desire Lover’s card can extend far beyond the realm of romantic relationship. It touches our careers….do we earn our living doing something we are passionate about? In that way The Lovers card asks us to consider our purpose in life, our raison d’etre, our calling if you will. Emotionally it touches on satisfaction, contentment, and emotional needs being met. Intellectually, it touches curiosity, enthusiasm, and voracious learning. Arguably, passion resides in the mind as much as the heart or the hormones. You can be a passionate bowler, or stamp collector as well as being capable of passionate romance. You can be passionate about anything. Love is a big concept that encompasses all sorts of things.
So lets pick up the book and see what the artist has to say:
Whew! Even though we differ in movie taste, the basic interpretation is similar. He also talks about emotions, the joy of living and loving what you do. The connection to the card is similar (it is a fun to get that kind of validation every now and again, even if you have been reading Tarot a long time) even if my connection to the movie represented is obviously quite different. That is the danger of using pop culture references in Tarot. Not everyone has seen every reference or interprets the reference material the same way, even if the intuitive engagement with the Tarot card itself is identical.
When a pop culture reference comes up in a reading (regardless of the deck I’m using) but the client either doesn’t know the reference or responds to it differently than the message and card intend…the thing to do is drop the reference like a hot potato. When that happens you either have to find a different cultural reference that does communicate the intended message OR leave references aside and use your good old fashioned vocabulary. Adjectives are our friends. References like these can be wonderful communication tools, but they aren’t worth holding onto so tight that the reading suffers.
New Stuff on the Way!
TaoCraft Tarot is still evolving to serve you better. You can order email readings right from the home page with SECURE PayPal buttons. Mala and Reiki orders coming soon. Come back often to check out all the updates, tweets and changes that will make TaoCraft your one stop shop for Tarot, distance Reiki, tutorials, and more.
Not the Mercury retrograde thing AGAIN
mini rant about mercury retrograde
All the blame-y victim-y whine-y energy and posts about friggen’ Mercury damn retrograde on social media ( looking at you Instagram) has officially gotten on my last nerve.
Blaming poor choices or random gliches on “Mercury retrograde” is like saying you stubbed your toe because it is raining in Poughkeepsie. Magick, energy, intuition, creativity, life force, the random crap of living – it is all bigger than one zippy little planet in one out of the way solar system in a really really big universe. You are part of the big stuff. You are rightfullly as much a part of the Cosmos as is Mercury. Now, knock it off about the damn retrograde, OWN your life and go be amazing.
Tarot Without a Net: The Emperor
I am really enjoying getting to know the Heart of Stars Tarot deck by Thom Pham (used in the blog series with his permission). The idea of using modern movie and TV icons on the deck as he does is SO in my wheelhouse. Pop culture is a conceptual Rosetta Stone, a perfect analogy for communicating the more esoteric or arcane parts of Tarot.
I was totally fangirling over seeing a Star Wars image. I’ve been a Star Wars fan from the word go when Episode IV first hit the world back in ’77. Given that there is an actual Emperor in the movie it took a little squinting and staring to wrap my head around seeing Obi Wan on the Emperor card. The villain Emperor certainly wouldn’t work for the card, but at first blush I would have pegged Obi Wan more of a Hermit type, since we first meet him at his isolated home in the Tatooine desert. Fast forward to the scenes in the Millennium Falcon where Obi Wan is teaching Luke to use the force in light saber training, and the conversations he had with Luke as a Force ghost in later movies.
Every Jedi is an emperor. Every one of us is an emperor.
It isn’t explicit by any means, but think of Qwi Gon and the earlier Jedi in the prequals. Think of the independence, self-direction and responsibility. The Jedi counsel were harsh taskmasters in some respects. They had to hold each and every Jedi to account. Each and every Jedi was ultimately responsible for their actions. Each and every Jedi was the emperor of their own being and their own destiny and their own actions.
And so are we. We may not be able to control our external circumstances at all. Internal emotions are normal, natural, and are not meant to be stifled, suppressed or in themselves controlled. We DO have 100% control AND 100% responsibility for how we react to those external circumstances and internal emotions. What we do and chose in response to those things determine our destiny. We are the absolute Emperors over our internal world even as we work to be in harmony with external energies and our internal emotional pulls. We are the rulers and protectors of our actions, even if we strive to serve as the Jedi do.
Let’s see what the artist has to say about Obi Wan…
He says it’s Anthony Hopkins as Odin in the movie Thor.
Ah well, that makes sense in the leader / ruler context WAY more than Obi Wan Kenobi. I totally missed that. Funny, since I’ve seen Thor and am a big fan of Marvel Universe movies (sorry DC folks)
But I get the vibe. He adds a mentoring, paternal element, as Odin was Thor’s father. I guess Obi Wan is close, a surrogate father with a connection to Luke’s actual father. Either way….older male father figure lends stability, & teaches us to be responsible leaders
Today’s Tarot: Three of Pentacles
Makers make because it is worth the work to bring something new into the world.
The Un-selfie Psychic
I hate having my picture taken.
Always have, it seems. One of my favorite photos from when I was about 6 or 7 was the whole family seated against the wall at grandma’s house, looking oh so 1970s. Mom, Dad, and my 2 year old sister had enormous “say cheese!” grins. Mom also had her arm around my waist with me in full sprint position making a break for it, fast exit stage right. I won’t tell you how old the picture below is, but it will have to do because I don’t do selfies. I’m trying to make myself do one of those speech to camera introductions for a TaoCraft YouTube channel, but we’ll cross that bridge later. Much later.
It is only slightly less excruciating to write a bio for a book or what have you. I hadn’t updated mine in ages. I copied and pasted the “Meet Your Reader” page right from the old Modern Oracle page. I mean, ewww, right?
But logic finally won. Updated the old bio this afternoon. It’s below.
As long as I’m introducing Reiki and meditation to TaoCraft Tarot, might as well reintroduce myself to you so you’ll know who is coming to your reading or your party, or is behind the cards for your distance session.
*Deep Breath*
Here goes….nice to meet you
MEET YOUR READER
My name is Ronda. I read Tarot, write things, and make stuff.
I started out with no intention of reading cards professionally. I have a Bachelor of Science in Medical Science, 13 years clinical experience as a physician assistant in psychiatry and interventional cardiology, a non-accredited Ph.D in Natural Health, Reiki Master-practitioner certification, U.L.C. ordination and am a retired Tai Chi instructor. The original idea was to do Natural Health Consultations. Natural, holistic health is all about mind, body and spirit in balance. There are lots of practitioners out there who can help physical heath. As it turns out, my calling is to help emotions and spirit through the art and entertainment of Tarot.
In the early 90s, when I was working in mainstream medicine, I began reading Tarot and oracle cards for my own spiritual development. That, and the fact I was too cheap to pay overpriced phone bills and have psychic friends to do it for me. Turns out I have a knack for it. After reading for friends and family, my best friend encouraged me to try reading online. In the early 2000s I did readings under the handle “Baihu” on Keen, Advice Trader, and Allexperts. When my Ph.D dissertation expenses came along, I took the next logical step, started to work for myself, and Modern Oracle Tarot was born. The extensive Tarotbytes blog archives are still available if you are interested.
In October of 2018, I brought Reiki and meditation under the same cyber roof as my tarot work, transforming Modern Oracle into the TaoCraft Tarot you see today.
That’s the “I read Tarot” part.
Things I’ve written includes the old “Tarotbytes” blog, the blog at RondaSnow.com, Modern Oracle: Hello, Peace Tarot, my dissertation Reiki and Relaxation and Bead Mindful, Begin Meditating. PeaceTarot is available in the etsty shop with other titles coming soon. PeaceTarot and my poetry collection “Triquetra: The Dance of Worlds” are already on amazon.com for Kindle. I have written articles about Natural Health for Point of Light magazine, and about Tarot for Find Your Psychic e-zine. My poetry has been in magazines and contest anthologies including Kindred Magazine, Nature’s Echoes, Quicksilver Moon, and Sparrowgrass Poetry Forum.
Now for the making stuff…
I make handcrafted meditation beads (mala) for your meditation practice or to go with the meditation lessons offered here. You can find them in TaoCraft T.arot Shop on Etsy. I also knit and make handmade jewelry as a hobby. Some of those projects are in the shop too.
Now we’ve come to the part where author’s bios put some jazzy 3rd person comment about where I live and and stuff…
Ronda lives in the Pittsburgh suburbs with her musician / concert photographer / computer genius husband, her yarn stash and a deep dislike for doing yard work.
I hope we can work together soon.
It’s still February
Valentine’s Day may be over, but I still appreciate all of you! Thank you to everyone who has participated in the February giveaway. You can still get a FREE one card daily meditation reading by email when you follow the blog by email with that big white button over there ->
The special offer is open to all new subscribers through the end of February.
Pro tip: If you subscribe by email, you won’t miss the other free reading giveaways and special offers that are coming up over the next several months.
I also plan to update some of the longer reads from the Tarotbytes archive and bring them here, continue the “Tarot Without a Net” and “Bookshelf” posts along with the usual sprinkle of daily meditation one card posts.
Part of the reason for renaming and updating everything is, of course, the addition of Sending Stones Reiki and Meditation lessons to my Tarot services. I’m hoping to introduce those things more fully as we go along too.
Thank you so much for being here.
*Heart* you readings awaaayyy
The first readings from the February giveaway are zipping their way through the Intertubes.
Every new email subscriber in February (use the white button) ->
gets a free one card daily meditation Tarot reading by e-mail sent to the address you use to subscribe. Send your question, topic or concern to TaoCraftTarot@gmail.com. If I don’t hear from you in 24 hours, I’ll assume you are ok with an “open” style reading.
Just a reminder: I’m thankful for WordPress followers – big time – but it doesn’t share your email. I can’t send you a reading without your email, you know? You CAN subscribe both ways…you’ll just get posts in both your email and in your WordPress reader. Email subscriptions are free, opt-in and you can unsubscribe at any time. I never share your email with anyone, as in the privacy policy HERE.
Was in maker mode this weekend
These have already sold: gratitude
This is new in TaoCraftTarot.shop
These are still there, and would make great Valentine’s day gifts. That accent crystal is amethyst colored, and amethyst is a birthstone for both February and Pisces.
Distance Tarot is always there too, no appointment needed.
It’s going to be another snowy Monday here, so I’m ready to brew up a cup and read Tarot all day, rain, snow, shine or whatever the weather where you are. I hope we can work together soon.
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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