tarot – Page 2 – Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot

Taijitu, Take Deux

Taijitu layout

Energy moving toward you: King of Wands

Energy moving away from you: Death

How to move forward in harmony with it all: Five of Cups

The energies are ripe for you to rediscover your true self, remember the things you genuinely love, and embrace all of the things that actually make you happy – to hell with what other people think or if it makes money. (Am taking my own advice there – hence the void scream)

Happy is valuable. A moment of joy is priceless.

The past year of death-card change and chaos energy is finally starting to move away. Things are still weird, but you are adapting to the weird and making friends with your inner demons. Adapting and rolling with whatever happens makes adapting and rolling feel like home.

Loss and release is sometimes necessary to make room for something better.

This is a perfect week for shadow work, very in keeping with the season. Don’t bury your dark side. Make friends with it, and make your light and dark combination greater than the sum of the parts. There is magic to be made in killing the past (a la Kylo Ren) to become who you really are. There is no part of you so bad that there isn’t someone who has been there with you at some point. There is no part of you so dark that you are excluded from the human race.

Dark is necessary for light to shine. Or as my favorite Affordable Floors song says – there is no calm without the storm.

Embrace the dark as a place to let your light shine.

Thanks for watching! See you at the next sip!

Deck: Alleyman’s Tarot by Seven Dane Asmund, used with permission ‪@publishinggoblin1072‬

“Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. It’s the only way to become what you were meant to be”
‘Kylo Ren’ in Star Wars: The Last Jedi written by Rian Johnson

Action Eases Anxiety: Feel your way home

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L- what it is (cross, reversed)
R – what to do (the Lady)

Energy is flowing at cross purposes to your higher intentions. Magick moves slower, this is not a time for impulsive actions.

Feeling is both noun and verb. Feeling IS doing something. Emotions, intuition, gut instinct may sway back and forth, but like a compass needle will help you feel your way forward, like gently finding your way across a pitch-black room.

The Lady card today resonates with the sacred feminine, with the mysterious, spiritual, inward, contemplative side of human psychology that is akin to the High Priestess in other Tarot decks. That is the thing to do. By the same token, being rigid, outward, legalistic, or dogmatic (as one might expect from the Pope card) is something to be avoided in this energy environment.

Lenormand tradition does not give much weight to reversals, but in this case it seems to emphasize the message that the energies are not openly hostile but definitely moving at cross purposes to your intentions. This is not a time for new projects. This is not a time for impulsive action or rash decisions.

Think about finding your highest and best, think of acting (albeit carefully) for the highest good. This is a good week to contemplate your true calling and highest path. Find direction now, take action later when the way is more clear and the resources you need are within view and closer reach. your true calling and highest path. Find direction now, take action later when the way is more clear and the resources you need are within view and closer reach.

To put it in short but controversial terms, be loving and spiritual this week, avoid religion. Feel, more than act this week. Contemplation and kindness lead the way through this time.

Thank you so much for reading. See you at the next sip!

Not So Lost After All

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THE LOST KING: This Normal Tarot card (deck by Seven Dane Asmund of @publishinggoblin1072 used with permission) wraps together elements of the Hanged Man, Death (reversed) and 8 of cups tarot cards.

Not only do I love the gold foil on black with skeletons aesthetic of this deck, each card seems to masterfully weave together multiple Tarot ideas with a modern sensibility. It is like getting an entire “action eases anxiety” layout in a single card.

In this case, the King element reminds us we are in charge of our inner world. This reminds us we are our own leader, decision maker and high priest(ess) The upside down image, the Hanged Man element, hints at something blocked, turbulent of being resisted. The thing being resisted is change, which connects this card draw to the death-card-change energy that has been appearing in multiple readings lately. There is also an element of 8 of Cups energy that advises some sort of letting go or walking away, which also entails big, sometimes frightening, sometimes much resisted change.

If this reading resonates with you today, let’s put it into the “action eases anxiety” layout model. The energy here is one of taking charge of your own decisions and actions. Change is happening, soon to happen, or much needed but delayed. Any of those scenarios can cause fear or worry. The action that can help is to face the changes, make deliberate (albeit painful) choices. Make the changes you know are the right ones for you. Difficult emotions and consequences of your choices may come, but a better path may well come right along with it.

Thanks again for reading. The next couple of weeks are going to be more squirrel-rave-ish than usual, so I’m not sure when it will be, but I definitely will see you at the next sip!

Week Ahead Tarot: Warmth and Meaning

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Or order a private, just-for-you, personalized Tarot reading by email or join a membership tier on Ko-Fi (includes free Tarot readings). The proceeds support Sage Sips Tarot blog which is always free to read.

You can still order private readings or join a ko-fi membership tier to get free tarot readings as part of your membership (terms and conditions apply – you know that drill. Entertainment only, doesn’t predict the future and whatnot)

For THIS week, I have a treat – for myself, but hopefully for you, too. I’m finally breaking out my “Normal Tarot 2” deck . This thing is GORGEOUS! I love the gold foil on black with skeletons aesthetic (no surprise there) and I’m really looking forward to exploring it more with all of you in a few weeks.

But now…this week. Interestingly, it might be helpful to read both, regardless of which one you chose in the beginning.

THE FROZEN KING: If we think of this card in classic Tarot terms, it is a little bit Death, a little bit Hanged Man. It is about the loss and tragedy of stagnation when the stagnation stems from choice – not the lack of choice. The frozen king is like locked up riches that can not be used. It is about lack of progress and prosperity stemming from a refusal to adapt and change. This is another facet of the Death card that has turned up in some readings lately. If you are frozen, resisting flow and change, ask what passions and loves in your life have you been neglecting. What flame do you need to (re)kindle to once again find your Flow.

THE SIXTH OF SUMMER: This is almost the opposite of the Frozen King, and the solution to it. It also marries elements of multiple Tarot cards, the Lovers and the Three of Cups with a little Ace of Wands thrown in. In short, be passionate about your relationships with people with a strong overlay of playfulness and lightheartedness – be generous with your smiles to strangers and add a little extra wattage to the intimate relationships that matter most to you. The battery for all of the extra energy is authenticity and genuine emotion. Only light the torch of passion when you genuinely and intensely mean it. But the hottest flame ends the soonest. Take care not to flame out fast. Cool the passions you want to last. Advice from trusted sources and friends can help, akin to that three of pentacles energy that is coming through here.

Merry Monday! See you at the next sip!

Sage

Deck: Normal Tarot 2 by Seven Dane Asmund used with permission and available to purchase on PublishingGoblin.com

Action Eases Anxiety Tarot: Adapt for Oysters

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Understanding a situation and making a plan of action nudges your thinking away from the future and “what if?” and brings it back to the hear-and-now. That shift in perception can interrupt and ease worries and anxieties. Lots of energy here today – it’s not often that we see double major arcana cards. This one is an attention-getter.

What’s happening – The World. Good, bad or indifferent, anything is possible. Sure, bad things are possible, but good things are probably just as likely. You steer toward where you look. Look at good things. This card traditionally has a positive vibe. “The world is your oyster” applies here.

What to do – The Tower. Be as OK as you can be with unexpected twists, turns and surprises. It doesn’t come naturally to many of us, but the ability to adapt is a survival skill. Adapt to find your good-future-building world oysters, so to speak.

If it isn’t natural for you, this is a time to push the envelope and deliberately work on mental, emotional, or even physical flexibility (a good stretch is stress-relieving. Mind follows body as much as the body follows the mind) If all else fails, if you can’t adapt to change, BE the change. BE the twist, turn and surprise.

Stay tuned for more Tarot. Likes, subs and shares are always appreciated! See you at the next sip! – Sage

Card for the Week of 15 Sept 25

Here is something a little different for the card of the week.

Daily meditation Tarot is a fantastic way to learn Tarot. The same idea can be extended to a card for the week. It is a next-step exercise that is more about building your intuition and general energy sense.

It’s easy to do.

Shuffle your deck, however you like. Shuffling is helpful because it clears any old energy from previous readings and ‘wakes up’ the deck (for lack of a better way of describing it)

Choose a card, any way you like. Cut the deck, fan the deck, draw from the top….whatever makes you happy.

In fact, making yourself happy is kind of the point of the card I drew, the Five of Swords.

It is often about ego and conflict. But the vibe here is internal, and I get mental images of the Five of Wands to go along with this. Put it together and it is about internal conflict. What do you NOT want to do that you are forcing yourself to gut it out and do? Where do you feel resistance? What part of this coming week do you want to block or avoid. What about the current situation that feels blocked or like it is blocking you?

Learn from that. Road blocks have signs on them. Detours are still a path forward. Or a message that maybe you were going the wrong way. Or a confirmation that the new path you’ve been considering is indeed the right one.

Like a daily meditation, it can help to put the card somewhere you can see it during the course of the week – someplace safe, like a bed side table or something. Whenever you see the card, take a second to be in the moment. Feel the energy, think a little how your initial impressions have connected (or not) with the week as it unfolds.

If you want to learn more about how to do your own daily meditation Tarot, PeaceTarot: Tarot as a Way to Peaceful Thoughts in Troubled Times is available as a pay what you want .pdf download in the TaoCraft Tarot ko-fi shop.

The Layouts, Explained

private tarot readings

When we talk about the “layout” or “card spread” in Tarot, we are referring to how the cards are physically placed on the table during a reading. The photo above shows a three card layout.

Some layouts are ancient and ubiquitous and no one really knows how they originated. Others are brand new and purpose written by the tarot reader. All are equally valid.

Regardless of its origin, the layout adds context and structure to a reading. It is the framework that connects the different cards into one, larger, cohesive message.

The real key in any layout is to have a clear idea what each position within the layout pattern will signify before the reading begins. You have to have a clear, fixed intention for the layout positions before you even pick up the cards. It serves as a solid foundation, which allows the individual card meanings to adapt and flow with intuition. Those two important things together elevate the quality of the reading as a whole. The card layout (along with a consistent overall reading format) helps to put the purely intuitive Tarot information into real world language we can actually use.

Here are the layouts that I’ve written for my private Tarot readings:

Year Ahead

five cards
advice over prediction – gives a sense of the energies ahead to help navigate the year
four cards for each upcoming season in order, no matter what time of year the reading is done
One card above the others to summarize the year as a whole

TaoCraft Path

Five cards
Intended for understanding the current situation and guidance navigating your life path ahead.
It goes right to left: influence from the past, the current situation, advice to move forward, how to keep this path, how to change this path if you want.

NEW! TaoCraft Taijitu

Three cards
Yin card: energies drawing toward you
Yang card: energies moving away or that need pushed away
Harmony: advice to take your next step forward in balance with all of the energies.

Yes or No

Three cards
Straight yes or no answer plus advice
inexpensive
fun and lighthearted, “Zombie Cat” style

Image credits:

Top and Taijitu image from the public domain
“Seasons”photo by the author using Witches Tarot deck by Ellen Dugan and Mark Evans copyright 1996 used with permissions on Llewellyn publishing
TaoCraft Path photo by the author using public domain image tarot cards

I totally judged this book by its cover

For September and October, I’ve decided to indulge in one of my favorite Tarot decks, The Alleyman’s Tarot and explore one of my newest ones, The Normal Tarot, both by Seven Dane Asmund of Publishing Goblin LLC who kindly gave permission to use his decks here in the blog.

My unboxing and earlier posts have all of the requisite fangirling about the Alleyman’s deck, which after a few years of using it is STILL a masterpiece. This deck (including the premise and lore built around it with the podcast and more is like a Stradivarius in the hands of master violinist. I know that sounds like a brag, and it is. I’m that good, and it is too.

When the chance came to 7DA’s first (I believe) deck, I didn’t hesitate, largely because the guidebook cover was love at first sight – a line drawing of a skeleton, cards and the title How To Normal Tarot: Staring into the Seething, Unknowable Chaos of the Universe for Fun and Profit.

That pretty much sums up Tarot work. Some folks really, REALLY don’t like the unknowable part. They want pat, canned platitudes and answers that they WANT to hear (not the guidance they NEED to hear.) Predictions are 1. impossible and 2. baby food for unready souls.

I’m not here for that. If you want “accurate predictions” you need to go find another psychic.

I’m here to give you a hearty soul-meal and some navigation tips for the seething unknowable chaos.

If you are ready for that ride, if you want to experience the wisdom that Tarot really offers, come along.

In September and October, I’ll be using the Alleyman’s Tarot deck for the Week Ahead choose your card readings and the Normal Tarot deck for our Weekend Oracle posts, simply because the deck isn’t a RWS clone. For the members only posts over on ko-fi I’ll post some longer-layout readings following (or inspired by) the layouts in the guidebook.

So fill up your metaphorical coffee (wine/tea/whatever) cup and come sip and stare into the chaos with me.

See you at the next sip

Want an affordable private tarot ($10 to $30) with a reader with 30 years experience and no appointment needed? Email Tarot on ko-fi and memberships on ko-fi all support this free tarot blog – no paywall at all.

Card: Death from L’oracle Des Dames as seen in the Alleyman’s Tarot deck

Week Ahead Tarot: Teams and Dreams

private readings

membership

Hello and happy almost September! I’m loving the cooler weather we’ve had this week! In honor of not feeling like we’re trudging through a flaming planetary death hellscape, back to roughly normal posting.

Today is a choose your own card Tarot for the week ahead. Pause the video if you want more time to think. Choose the card that feels right to you and tah-DA! You just got a free Tarot reading. It doesn’t matter if you choose before or after you see the cards and meanings. It is still intuitive discernment. It is your own good intuition deciding if one card, the other card, neither one or both are right for you.

ACE OF PENTACLES: Rest easy. Enjoy the simple pleasures that are already at hand. Contentment is a great treasure. Give yourself the freedom to dream a little while enjoying everything just exactly the way it is right now. If everything seems dark or dreadful, open your perspective. You might be missing something and focusing on one thing too much.

THREE OF PENTACLES: You got this. You are strong and capable, but you still don’t have to do everything alone. Enjoy being a strong, happy part of the team. It doesn’t mean you are weak. It might just mean you are the leader.

Fall Schedule

As always, there is none. Family first, always. When and what gets posted depends on the IRL day job. Here is the plan that fully expect to go off the rails:

Sage Sips Blog

Always free to read! No paywall!
Sunday/Monday: Week ahead interactive choose your own card readings
Wednesday: Action Eases Anxiety readings
Thursday/Friday: Weekend Oracle
Random behind the scenes and Q&A

Private Tarot Readings

Order anytime 24/7 no appointment needed
Email only: includes a photo of your real – world card layout. No AI here – only 30 years of Tarot experience.
Four layouts available starting at $10 total cost (no per minute charges)
Proceeds support the cost to produce the blog.

Memberships on Ko-fi

Sage Sips membership $5/month: One free Tarot reading by email each calendar month at your request – choose your layout (five card, year ahead, three card taijitu, three card yes-or-no, one card meditation)
Sage Answers $3/month: One free yes-or-no Tarot reading by email at your request.
Both tiers get DM access to request your readings
Both tiers get random special offers and exclusive content.
Proceeds support the cost to produce the blog

Thanks for reading! See you at the next sip!

Vestigial but Valuable

I follow a fair few Tarot readers on social media. @MadamAdam is a favorite. He posted the other day about those who accuse online psychics of being unethical or a scams after he had spent five or so years building a brand and business with ethics and authenticity.

Preach.

Of course my first response was to go grumpy granny bat and think about the 30 years I’ve spent working with spirituality, intuition development and card readings including the past 20 + years of brand and business building. Being thought of as a scam after pouring every ounce of professionalism you got into a being of service while getting a little fair compensation, all above board and tax paid….it’s enough to put a twist in any professional reader’s knickers.

I may have lost a great deal in the fame and fortune department by doing things with ethics and authenticity, but I can go on with life knowing that I did it right. A life of authenticity is a treasure all its own. I worked every moment above board, with ethics and transparency. Now that TaoCraft Tarot and Sage Sips is a blog supported by my labors of love and readers like you instead of being a full-on Tarot reading business, it seems a little silly to have such a detailed policy page.

It may be vestigial, but it is still valuable.

Ethics and authenticity aren’t selling points. They are character traits. They are how you do business, perhaps, but also how you live your life – if your authenticity is, um, authentic.

So here is my policy page, almost exactly as it has always been. Authenticity and ethical behavior doesn’t stop just because you stop answering the phone for in-person gigs and shift your focus to email readings.

At least this way you know that the readings you get with me are STILL highest quality, ethical, and above all authentic.

P.S. – the readings are fun and helpful too. Order yours HERE.

Must be 18 or over to purchase private readings

WHAT I DO

My Tarot readings are customized, ephemeral folk art consisting of a photo of your unique, real world tarot card layout followed by a written discussion of the cards and a purely intuitive summary of the reading.
Readings are delivered as a .pdf or . docx electronic document in an email attachment
The Sage Sips blog, Ebooks by Sage Snow and all associated social media are intended for artistry, inspiration, personal enrichment and entertainment only. They do not predict the future.
The proceeds from readings, memberships, and virtual coffee gifts on ko-fi all go toward the cost to create and web host Sage Sips blog and the TaoCraftTarot.com website.

WHAT I DO NOT DO

I do not predict the future,
I do not accept medical, legal or pregnancy questions.
I do not read anyone without their knowledge and direct consent. This means I don’t read for you without your request first and I don’t read about anyone other than the person getting the reading.
I NEVER approach you individually to offer a reading. If that happens, please report the impostor.
The information and services on this website and in my writings do not diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any illness. They do NOT replace professional medical care, mental health care or qualified professional advice in any way.
No free or sample readings
I do not accept any liability of any kind. Use these artistic services or the information contained therein 100% at your own risk.
Beginning January 2025 the business portion of this website that offered phone, online, party and in person Tarot readings has closed.

DISCLAIMER, REFUNDS, EXCHANGES

Tarot is highly customized ephemeral art, so no refunds, exchanges or replacement are available.
Contacting me or making a a ko-fi purchase indicates your agreement with all policies and disclaimers.
Again, use at your own risk. No liability of any kind is implied or accepted.

PRIVACY

Your privacy is a top priority. In order to create and customize your reading, I collect basic contact information including but not limited to name, age, email, reading topic or question, etc. No information is shared except with your permission or in cooperation with legal authority.
Example readings or Q&A readings in the blog are used with the questioners knowledge and consent and with all names, dates or other identifying information removed.
For accuracy, the above basic contact information is re-collected with each new purchase or membership reading request.
Each reading is customized, ephemeral art. A reading’s relevance decreases as time passes. Readings and contact information are routinely deleted.

PAYMENT

PayPal via ko-fi checkout is accepted.

DELIVERY TIME

Each reading is unique and made to order. Please allow 3 to 5 business days for delivery.
Please expect longer delivery times when the order is placed nights, weekends or holidays US eastern time.

Copyright Notice

Free Blog posts may be shared or quoted under an attribution, share-alike, non-commercial, no derivatives Creative Commons 4.0 international license.
E-mail readings include photos by the author of the client’s individual card layout. The Tarot Waite Smith 1909 card images are public domain. Heart of Stars Tarot 3rd edition used with the direct permission of artist and author, Thom Pham. Animal Wise Tarot used with the permission of DragonHawk Publishing. Alleyman’s Tarot used with permission of Seven Dane Asmund and Publishing Goblin LLC. Other decks are used with publisher’s permission as indicated.
All readings are done by a human being with 30+ years of Tarot experience. No AI tools are used in these readings.

Social Media and Blog Policies

I reserve the right to block any commenter for any reason at my sole discretion
Your support on ko-fi for these free blog readings is greatly appreciated.
Blog comments are moderated, no spam or comments containing multiple links are permitted.

reviewed and updated August 2025