Tag: tarot reading

Today’s Tarot Is … Up To You

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Remember that old meme “Happiness is…” from the Peanuts? A quick snoop(y) around Google and you can find dozens of Happiness is… memes, along with the tidbit that the song “Happiness” (that seems to have spawned the whole “Happiness is….” thing) comes from 1967’s You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown musical. Happiness is… has been around a while.

The ellipsis is the part that connects the meme to today’s card. Sure, this card is all happy, sunny, positive, hopeful, optimistic and all of that jazz. But at what point does it tip over into toxic positivity? What do you do if you pull this card when things are terrible and the last thing you need is a bunch of shallow platitudes and superficial think-positive happy talk?

The first thing to do is take it easy on yourself. You are not wrong. “Positive” isn’t always right. Life isn’t all rainbows and unicorns all of the time. The very first of Buddhism’s Four Noble Truths is the truth of suffering. It exists. Shit happens. Rather than drown said shit in denial, minimization, avoidance, platitudes or thoughts & prayers, it seems better to honestly acknowledge these so-called negative emotions than to sweep then under the proverbial rug. If you acknowledge them, then maybe you won’t inadvertently take them out on other people. The sunlight of honest acknowledgement is the best disinfectant. Sometimes a short wallow in what we are really feeling is the best way to deal with those emotions and move on.

That is the beauty of the Tarot deck as a whole. It covers a wide range of human emotions and experiences from the idyllic ten of Cups all the way through the Devil and Death cards and then some.

That’s the beauty of each card. In each one, there is a little seed, a little glimmer of its opposite. Some readers prefer to only consider that seed when the card presents as reversed (upside down relative to the person doing the reading.) I think that seed of the opposite is worth considering all of the time, and would rather leave reversals to be a clue to slowed, challenged or blocked energies.

That’s the beauty of the ellipsis in the “Happiness is….” meme. The definition of happiness is 100% up to you. Happiness may be a warm puppy, an ice cream sundae, or good friends. Happiness may be black mascara and a Bauhaus album. As it harms none, do what thou will….you get to decide what makes you happy as long as you wear a mask, stay six feet apart, wash your hands, don’t commit any felonies and don’t hurt anyone.

By that same token, just as you get to decide what your own happiness IS, you get to decide to BE happy. Things can suck. Shit happens. Suffering is a truth of life….and you can still decide to be happy in spite of it all.

Today’s Tarot, the Ten of Cups, happiness is….

up to you.

I Still Dunno

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I still dunno.

The Queen of Cups turned up again, and once again it feels like it is connected to process of facing the unknown.

The word “ponder” comes to mind. I don’t think I’m missing any big message from the Queen. I think she is back just because she has more to say, not because the original message is being missed. Maybe she is just hanging around to help us face the unknown with grace and wit and style. The mental image here is that the cup (rather than a symbol for plumbing psychological and spiritual depths, deep soul scrying) is now a cup of wine, of cheer in the face of challenges. It is an obscure reference, but I think of drunken monkey style Kung Fu or that scene in the anime Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure where the protagonist had to fight the bad guy attacking them without spilling his goblet of wine.

If you aren’t familiar with martial arts, you might think this is all about fighting and violence and wine. Not that there is anything wrong with wine. I could go for a nice chilled Riesling myself, but that’s not the point. That’s not where the energy of the card or the intuitive references are flowing. Flowing is the point of it, actually. Relaxed muscles move faster. A relaxed mind reacts quicker and with more clarity.

The fear of the unknown and and the fear of all of the bad stuff that we know can happen in life is as much of a challenge as the bad stuff itself. In other words, as President Roosevelt said, “we have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

Staring into the depths, into mysteries, into the unknown is staring into the fearsome. People come to psychic readings to remove the fear of the unknown with the illusion of predictions, the illusion of knowing. Psychics are psychics not because they see the future, but because they see the unknowable and help us move forward anyway.

YouChoose on the Print Side

Whelp, yesterday was a day and days happen. The website and Etsy shop are ALWAYS open and you can order readings 24/7/365 – but this was a reminder to both of us that there might be some hiccups and delivery delays nights, weekends and U.S. holidays. Now that my daughter is older, TaoCraft has my attention most of the time, but there will always be days here and there where family gets first dibs and it might take a day to get content up here or on the YouTube channel.

There is still a learning curve for me on this YouTube thing. The lighting with this new deck on a rainy day is a prime example. While part of me wants to produce a “banger every time” edited, media production quality video there are three main reasons why I chose not to do that.

1. I don’t know how. TaoCraft Tarot is made up of me, my tablet, my deck and that is IT. I have neither the computing power nor the know-how to be the Markaplier of Tarot channels.

2. I HATE being on camera. This whole re-branding adventure is about authenticity. I don’t want to be yet another talking head speech to camera Tarot Vlog.

3. I want the YouTube videos to be as authentic as the rest of TaoCraft Tarot. If the videos are crap, it’s because I’m still authentically suckish at making them. (Not saying that won’t change as I learn on the fly) Live Tarot sessions don’t come with an edit button. If we ever work together in real time, either in-person or by phone, there will be times where I pause to listen to intuition, or have to try a couple of times to get the just-right word. It isn’t perfect but it is real.

The whole reason for having a YouTube channel is so you can get a feel for what a live session would be like. It isn’t quite there yet. In a live session is WAY more comfortable and articulate. Kind of like the blog. Ah well, it will get there. Meanwhile, let’s get comfy here on the print side.

Left: The Hierophant. Some decks call this the pope. This and the Judgement card are big triggers for me because of the overtly christian imagery. Two things brought the card into focus for me: Diane Morgan’s interpretation of the card as general “social conventions” and JoAnn Dinelli’s “keeper of the traditions.” Of those two threads of energy, this week the card leans toward the social convention side. I hear “play the game” not in a manipulative sense or to suggest hiding your true self. It is more like the adage discretion is the better part of valor. Know your audience. Dress the part for that job interview. Now is not the time to overshare. Take care who you show your true self to. It is OK to protect the pearl that is the true you when there are so many swine around. Doing the social dance might just keep you from being trampled.

Center: Four of Cups. Don’t push. Look inward more than outward. It’s a good week for introspection, meditation, and generally mulling things over. Inward can go forward or backward in time. Mull over what has happened, assess things as they are, then ponder what to do next. There isn’t any sense of urgency. Take your time, do it right. Mr. Franklin was right. This is a week where haste might make waste.

Rignt: Eight of Wands. Stay frosty. You aren’t in control at the moment but your time will come. You did what you could at the time, but now decisions and actions have moved elsewhere and you have to wait for new developements before you can make your next plans and steps. Some bit of information you need may not yet be known or clear. It is very much like archery right now. You did your part, when you pulled the bow and took aim, metaphorically speaking. The arrow is in the air now, no longer under your control. Watch where it lands. Then you’ll know the score, and what you need to do next.

Thanks for your patience with the YouTube foray outside of the comfort zone. We’ll figure that out as we go along, just like anything else in life and Tarot.

I dunno

the value of not knowing

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Life is a mystery.

Some would say a box of chocolates. Others of us might lean more toward a word that sounds like bitstorm. Chocolate or otherwise, sometimes you just don’t know where it is going to splatter.

Not knowing is part of life, and and it is unnerving as heck. Nobody likes it. Trying to cope with the unknown comes in different forms. We can prepare for it, and make contingency plans as best as you can. It is warm and comfy to wrap yourself in if-then logic. If X happens, then I’ll do Y, but if A happens then I’ll do B, if C happens then have mercy….

I don’t blame people who want predictions. Predictions are uncertain in and of themselves, so they only push life’s uncertainty back a step and hold it at arm’s length until facts and reality sets in. Advice and guidance are more effective. Rather than a prediction that still might or might not materialize, guidance adds a degree of information, a tiny bit of knowing that increases both our comfort levels and our ability to make contingency plans.

Imagine driving on a long road trip, and not quite knowing where you are. But ah-ha! A little sign on the side of the road lets you know that you are on highway I 79 going north. If I keep going straight, I’ll get to Erie, as long as I don’t drive into the lake…or get stuck in a surprise snow squall. So watch for where to turn, stop before you hit water, make sure your cell phone is charged and bring a coat. The sign (Tarot reading) doesn’t predict anything about our road trip, but it tells you the direction you are headed – good news if you are headed north, but if you wanted to go south, you have a choice to make about how to turn things around.

But that’s the practical side. What, other than facing our fear of it, is the value of the unknown? Is there one?

I think the mysterious and unknown is our portal to spirituality.

That is how I define spirituality, in fact. Spirituality is how we, as individuals deal with and engage with the inevitable, inexorable mysteries of existence. It is the diametrical opposite of religion. Religion is external, dogmatically seeking to make mysterious knowable even if it is at the cost of authoritarian, exclusionary, judgmental thinking. Spirituality makes the unknowable – not into the knowable – but into our friend.

It is ok not to know everything or have easy answers to everything. If the journey is more important than the destination, then the contemplation of the mysterious is more important than the comprehension of it.

I make meditation beads. I made one for myself recently. I have no idea how many beads are on it. I just strung however many beads were in that loose package. It’s not a size of bead I typically use, so there was no easy guess how many wound up on the strand. I could have counted them, but I chose not to. I could count them now, but I still choose not to. That mala reminds me of the mysterious parts of life. Because it is unknown, but could be, it symbolizes a connection between the known and unknown, the magick and the mundane, the material and the spiritual.

Not knowing is the bridge between the known and unknowable.

It’s OK to not know everything, even if it is a little frightening.

“I will not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death that leads to total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will allow it to flow around me and through me. When the fear has passed, I will turn my minds eye to the path where the fear has gone and only I will remain.”

Dune by Frank Herbert

Today’s Tarot: Unplug the Adulting

Childlike mindfulness wrapped in the present moment.

The best way I can think to describe this card is child-like mindfulness. There is an emphasis on both clarity and acceptance. See things as they really are, accept them for what they really are, then find the good parts and let yourself sit and be with that situation. That resonates with the magnifying glass and flowers image the video mentions…find the good in the reality of the situation. Or at least find some aspect of the hear and now that you can abide by. Then abide WITH it. BE with the situation, absorbed and fascinated and disconnected from larger worries. Drawing, coloring, crafting any easy, distracting, amusing activity can be good opportunities to unplug from the adulting and be with something innocuous and neutral, neither joyous nor distressing…just wrapped in the moment.

Today’s Tarot: An Element of Optimism

The Nine of Wands asks much of us, but it is an inherently optimistic card.

Today it feels very aligned with other cards like the Seven of Pentacles in it’s promise making quality: If you do what needs done, then it will turn out OK in the long run.

The ‘it’ll be OK’ energy of it is very much related to the energy of the day, more than the traditional meanings for the card. The card, as with all the wands, is inner-world oriented. Typically it is about the ‘do what needs done’ part more than giving any sense of the outcome. It speaks to the internal things like courage, persistence, and optimism

Success requires our sustained active participation. That active participation itself requires those internal qualities. If there was no hope of success, then we probably wouldn’t do the thing. In encouraging action, the card offers an element of optimism to go along with it.

Today’s Tarot: Frosty Fall

The Five of Pentacles makes me feel sad today. It has tendrils of tragedy, misfortune, and fear. It is one of those things that makes me stop, and as we have talked about before, take a little inventory. Is it me? Is it any sort of real threat? Is there something I’m missing or need to do? Or is this an energy from outside myself, a purely “the current zeitgeist is ringing my bell” empathic feeling. It seems to be the latter. I have to travel for family reasons but there is no logical, physical reason that would explain the card’s vibe. This is a coins/pentacles card. As a reader, not only is it always good to stop and consider if a strong emotional reaction is product of our own psychology (as opposed to a purely intuitive reaction to the card) but the suit of pentacles or the suit of swords points to the real world and cold logic straightaway.

Given all of that, I don’t see any real world, my issue, or logical reason for this visceral sort of reaction to the card other than maybe the continued political news here in the U.S. Maybe I’m reacting to the passing of Justice Ginsburg …but there is so much else so wrong and has been for nearly 4 years now.

The card has more of a sense of more foreboding now that I write this than it did at first blush when I filmed the card-draw video. You all know how writing is a more potent connection to intuition for me than working with YouTube is.

The parable of the grasshopper and the ant comes to mind….as does the squirrels and chipmunks busting around the neighborhood in a prehybernation frenzy. The “Pre-hibernation Week” episode of Spongebob was pretty close to reality from the look of these guys.

Today’s Five of Pentacles gives us the same advice. Fall is a time to harvest and store and budget and take care. It might be a hard winter. I hope I’m wrong, but that hurricane on the horizon feeling is back. If it is wrong…great. If not, be safe and be well.

Please prove me wrong.

YouChoose Interactive Tarot 20-26 Sept. 2020

As seems to be the emerging natural pattern, just have a quick announcement before moving on to this week’s cards: I’ll be on a reduced Tarot / online schedule Tue-Sat. because family stuff. If you are interested in a reading or anything from the store, don’t hesitate to order. The only change is that shipping & delivery might take longer than usual. Thank you in advance for your patience.

Left: 10 of Cups (grasshopper) Take the leap and dare to be happy. Beware of self-sabotage, and allow yourself to succeed. Don’t be afraid of finishing well. 10 cards, being the largest of the number cards in any suit, are a sort of pinnacle, the essence of the suit in its greatest expression. Taoism teaches that anything in its extreme holds the seed of its opposite. Be careful not to snatch defeat from the jaws of victoty. Finish, succeed, allow your self to be happy.

“People are about as happy as they make up their minds to be” – attr. Abraham Lincoln

Center: 5 of Swords (Goose) Overcoming obstacles is a journey as well as a destination. This card has shown up previously. My hunch this is for emphasis rather than a hint that we aren’t getting the lesson. Historic things have happened between the card’s appearances to show how important the lesson is: Stay chill, stay calm, work the problem. Swords are associated with the element of air and thereby mind and logic and cool intellect. My attention is drawn more to this elemental association than the contemporary relationship style of meanings. Mr. Andrews association with vision quest grabs my attention too. Especially the quest part. Big, systemic problems aren’t solved in a day. They take time, steps, parts, cooperation, and both tactics and strategy. The journey around or through an obstacle may be long and arduous but also needed and worthwhile.

“Let’s work the problem, people. Let’s not make things any worse by guessing. The Lunar Module just became a lifeboat. I don’t care what anything was designed to do.” – Ed Harris playing Gene Krantz in Apollo 13 (movie)

Right: Strength (Lion) This isn’t going to be easy, but when you have the strength to meed the challenges, the hard doesn’t matter. This card is just exactly that sort of reassurance. You have strength, whether you feel it ahead of time or not. If you don’t, get some. The ability to find solutions and to obtain resources is as good as having them in the first place.

“When you can’t walk, you crawl. When you can’t do that, you find someone to carry you.” – from Firefly (TV series) by Joss Whedon