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Happy Year of the Tiger & Happy new podcast!
Happy year of the tiger 2022!
The year is full of new ones, depending on which calendar you use. I like the lunar one because fish and noodles and sticky rice balls oh my!
As I understand it, one of the many marvelous traditions surrounding the lunar new year (in addition to the food) is that you clean the house before the new year to symbolically sweep out old negativity and misfortune After that, you don’t sweep or clean for the first days of the new year so you don’t accidentally brush away any new and good luck coming in. Any excuse to skip housework for a few days is good fortune in my book. It’s out with the old, in the new. I wonder if it works for podcasts.
I loved doing the Menage A Tarot podcast with David and Kate. After its seemingly permanent hiatus and my rebranding from Modern Oracle to TaoCraft Tarot was finally done, “Clairvoyant Confessional” dropped into my lap as an idea for a new podcast. I don’t have the skill or the software to do it myself, so when the WordPress & Anchor FM connection launched, I jumped at the chance to bring “Confessional” into reality.
But, as it turned out, making a good monologue driven podcast with a pirate radio, Delilah after dark sort of feel was harder than I thought it would be, even with these super easy to use tools. And, as it also turns out, monologuing like a super villain isn’t as much fun as you might think. It gets really old really fast.
In keeping with lunar new year, I’m sweeping out the old style podcast once and for all. Yesterday was one last confessional pirate radio monologue before going full cyberpunk and letting Siri’s second cousin Remy do the talking because dammit Jim, I’m a writer not a narrator and can make very long complex sentences like this one.
Rather than chasing a nifty idea with mediocre execution, I want to give you the best of me and my actual clairvoyance by changing – not ending – the podcast. The podcast will be the audio edition of the blog, which includes short sip (almost) daily Tarot, You Choose Interactive Tarot, and bigger reads like the upcoming Oracle’s Toolkit series. And, if any of you can work up the courage to submit a question through the blog comments or social media, I’ll answer your question in the blog and podcast. Instead of “I have a confession” this could be a “Real Tarot for Real People” kind of blog and podcast. Ask me anything. I’ll post some sort of answer, maybe even one with a Tarot card or two or a few.
You can listen to the final confession HERE
Thank you to everyone reading or listening. I appreciate you and I’m glad you are here.
I also appreciate any likes, subs, shares, follows, or Tarot Table memberships you can spare. Your support through the purchase of private Tarot readings and the “buy me a coffee link” goes toward the creation of this free-for-everyone Tarot content.
It’s that retrospective, year-in-review time of, ahem, year.
I used to think it was fun and sentimental. You know, reflection, introspection, personal growth and all that. But now I’m older and wiser. It’s also easy content. Who am I to argue with that logic? (She says as she shuffles off for another cup of spiced coffed and a cranberry scone for breakfast)
Today we’re throwing back to April. If you are more in a mood to look forward, “Year Ahead” readings are available by email on the home page. Memberships get both an exclusive “month ahead reading” on the ko-fi blog and a private year ahead reading by email when you join.
That being said, here is “Growing Ogres” from April 2021.
Shrek: ….ogres are like onions
Donkey: They stink?
….
Shrek: No! Layers! Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. You get it? We both have layers
from “Shrek” copyright 2001 Dreamworks Pictures, quote via imdb.com
Layers mean complexity. Layers apply to all sorts of things that are actually more complex than they seem at first glance; ogres, onions, cakes and – you guessed it – Tarot.
Reading Tarot for yourself is actually quite simple. In a couple of hours I could teach you to do good DIY readings for yourself. (Related: PeaceTarot ebook)
Reading for other people is another story. High level professional readings are, like onions and ogres, more complex than it seems on the surface. That’s the whole point of them. A professional reading can gives you extra layers of insight and experience that you can’t get alone. Two heads are better than one. Two eyes give depth perception (related post: parallax) The two of us working together gives your reading another layer of understanding.
Sometimes layers talk about authenticity. Sometimes you have to peel back a few layers to get to the real heart of the matter. We’ve talked about authenticity and public Tarot practice before, after my Modern Oracle Tarot work was re-branded to TaoCraft Tarot (related: what’s in a name, Shakespear’s Roses, Spell Your Name)
That’s all well and good, but consider another aspect of layers: growing new ones. Interestingly, actual onions grow on the inside. New layers are added at the core while older outside layers get dry and thin and ultimately fall away. In this, onions give us another useful metaphor.
In the medical field, and no doubt many other professions, continuing education is a condition of licensure and employment. You have to keep learning and keep current if you want to keep working. Whether it is required or not, whether it is career related or not, lifelong learning is a respected mark of excellence. Learning isn’t just formal education. Learning comes from experience and experimentation and the living of life. Artists’ work evolves over time. Any person’s point of view can evolve over time.
And so, the “Modern Oracle” layout is evolving. I’m calling abort on the video / text hybrid format. It was an experiment that failed, and I’ve learned something important from it.
Remember how deeper layers are often perceived as more authentic and how old layers of growing onions turn papery and fall off? It’s time for the 5 and 7 card Modern Oracle layouts to evolve, to become more authentic, to show more of their inner complexity. The video hybrid isn’t the way for that to happen. The names of layout card positions are changing. It’s a tiny detail that you may not even notice from your side of the Tarot table. On my side of the table it is important shift in mindset. This allows me to fully and authentically follow what intuition and spirit shows me.
I wrote the initial layout meanings to create a bridge from old fashioned, predict-the-future, fortune telling layouts to a more modern advice, guidance and empowerment reading. I wrote the Modern Oracle layouts specifically to show the power of your choices over your future. Cards that once were called “past, present and future” in the old style became “lessons from the past, current situation, and moving forward.” Predicting the future evolved into making an action plan.
Now it will go one step further. I in my minds’s eye, I see a reading in terms of dynamic energy flows, not a concrete road through time. As Modern Oracle layouts become TaoCraft layouts, we will let go of time and predictions entirely. If the Modern Oracle layout was like GPS map for your path ahead, the TaoCraft layout is like a GPS traffic update with a weather report.
Card 1, lessons from the past, will become Fading Energies, symbolizing energies that are moving away from you. These are things that need less of your attention.
Card 2, current situation, will become Current Energies, the energies that are strongest, and deal with things that need your attention in this moment.
Card 3, moving forward will become Growing Energies, energies moving toward you, or gaining influence in the path you’ve currently chosen. It still isn’t predictive. It is still intended to guide you, help you prepare for possible conditions ahead. Think of it like a weather report. It doesn’t tell you exactly what will happen to you during your day, but it can give you the chance of rain or sun while it happens.
Card 4 will remain Choices. It is still placed under the current energies card and at the center of the layout because that is still the place of power. Empowering your choices is still the heart of the reading. The choices card will take on a more advisory tone than before. Instead of suggesting how to persist or how change your path, it focuses on whether changing or whether staying the course is the wisest thing to do.
Card 5 is still Alternative Path just like before, showing the most open alternative path you if you decide a change is needed.
Card 6 Helping Energies and card 7 Potential Challenges are the same as always, and speak to exactly what the name implies.
Long story short, if you are dead set on a specific “accurate” prediction, you aren’t going to like the new TaoCraft layouts. If that’s the case, you need the Zombie Cat yes/no readings like we did the other day. Even then, you have to realize it isn’t 100%.
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TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today: The Founder of the Feast with the King of Pentacles
Thank you for reading, watching and listening to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your morning coffee. Today’s card is the King of Pentacles
Saying thank you to the people who work so that you can eat and live is the best grace that you can say.
In A Christmas Carol, Bob Cratchit proposes a toast to Mr. Scrooge, the “founder of the feast” which prompts a room sized rant about how terrible Scrooge treats Bob. It’s a valid point and necessary to the story.
But I wonder – who thanked Bob for working that awful job that let them put a flaming dessert on the table? Or thanked Mrs. Cratchit for cooking a big family meal in a nineteenth century kitchen?
When I was young, the extended family would get together for Christmas and my uncle, the evangelical minister would pray over the food in dramatic fashion for what seemed like hours when all I wanted to do was dive in to the ham and grandma’s cornbread dressing. To his credit, in the middle of the conspicuous baby jeebus rhetoric, he always managed to throw in a one sentence thanks to the “hands that prepared” the food.
To my mind that is where the real grace was said.
If you work and provide food and shelter – thank you. If you cook a meal – thank you. If you work in grocery stores, deliver the mail, give entertainment, or do anything to make anything work and help the tribe of humankind survive the longest night – thank you.
Just started reading Be Water, My Friend by Shannon Lee about Bruce Lee. Martial arts philosophy, Taoism…SO in my wheelhouse. Just a few pages in, and already loving it.
Am thinking about reviving my personal blog “Stuff” on RondaJSnow.me to do writer-y type stuff and all of the not-tarot poopgoo and Kittenwhisker-ish type stuff. After starting this book, I might add book reviews into the mix.
I’m curious. Which would you guys like better? Surf over to the other site and follow that blog (right column on desktop, scroll down on mobile) and get 100% of everything or just read a few select posts cross pollenated onto this one even though it’s off topic? If you can spare a minute, drop a comment and let me which suits you better. While you are there, feel free to give any feedback you want. Luv it, hate it, whatever. Same goes for any Tarot questions you might have. It can be personal, like the boyfriend question yesterday, or it can be about psychics, intuition, Tarot in general.
Full disclosure: any question that comes to me other than a paid private session will be answered in the blog (scrubbed of any identifying information to protect your privacy of course) It’s kinda like a Tarot swap meet – you get a free one card reading, I get blog/podcast content. Don’t forget two important things 1. The answer is more than likely going to be in full Zombie Cat mode so be prepared for a little light snark and 2. Any and all spam or inappropriate anything will be destroyed in a blinding flash of hellfire. TaoCraft Tarot is a safe space and I am the absolute ruler and gatekeeper and writer of the policies to which it all is subject.
On other words, ask Zombie Cat anything in the comments, but do so at your own peril.
What do you think?
If you aren’t feeling the blog / Zombie Cat thing, private readings by email are available to order anytime, no appointment needed HERE
Q: Can you tell me what my boyfriend is hiding from me? He’s acting secretive, and I think I know what it is. What is he going to do and when?
A: There is a lot more to this question than you might think.
Can I tell you what your boyfriend is going to do and when? The short answer is – no.
That sort of thing only happens in movies, TV, and the occasional outright scam. In my opinion, if someone promises to fix your love life or promises to give 100% accurate predictions you should run in the opposite direction.
That being said, even if I could tell what your boyfriend is thinking, I wouldn’t. My personal ethics are to protect everyone’s privacy. I don’t read anyone’s energy without their consent. There is a little bit of nuance to that when it comes to relationship questions, but we can talk about that in another blog post because it doesn’t apply here.
When you see the phrase “no third party questions” on a psychic’s website or disclaimers, that’s what it is talking about. We don’t read anyone other than the person who comes to us and asks the question. No matter what you believe about whether it is even possible to read minds, a real professional will respect everyone’s privacy. That goes for both real world privacy and the mental & spiritual kind too.
What a Tarot reading CAN do is help you build on that “I think I know what it is” part. A good Tarot reading helps you to get your head around the big picture and empower YOUR intuition and empower your part in the relationship.
For example, when I draw a card for this I get…..
The Queen of Cups
Queen cards are about leadership, just as much as king cards are but queens have leadership with a nurturing spin while kings have leadership with a protective quality. The nurturing here is directed at you. There is a sense that it is time to put on the big girl panties and face what is going on. Be a leader in this. The only way to really know what he is thinking is to ask him. Talk about it. Be prepared to start the conversation and be prepared to deal with the fallout. There are reasons why the Queen is the most powerful piece on the chessboard. Would Elizabeth the 1st ask a wizard what to do or would she do what needs done keep the kingdom healthy?
Cups cards do symbolize romance, but older meanings connect them to the element of water and to intuition. What are your instincts? Cards can have different spins, or flavors of meaning. In this case, it is validation. Follow your instincts how to start a conversation with your boyfriend and – importantly – listening to your instincts as the conversation goes on. Listen. Learn from what is said. Follow your intuition about what is said as it happens. Don’t go into it with any preconceived notions. See how the queen is looking into the cup? She’s looking for the deep truths, not surface conclusions. Look, listen and learn, then take the lead and do the right thing.
Thank you for sharing your question with us. You never know who else it might help. Questions are welcome in the comments and will be answered in the blog & podcast. If you would like a detailed private reading by emial, you can order them HERE 24/7 no appointment needed.
Be safe. Be well. Best wishes to you.
Today’s card is the knight of wands.
Knight cards tend to speak of action or implementing an idea. Wands reflect the inner world; our passions, our interests, spirituality, philosophy and more. Wands can reflect your relationship with yourself.
This card isn’t a permission slip to go on a wild bender and indulge in self-destructive passions, but it is permission to actively, deliberately engage with passions that make you happy. What is it that makes you light up and the words flow from you? What in life makes you feel charismatic – at least to yourself, even if no one else notices. More than being comfortable inside your own skin, this card asks you to find the thing that makes you feel confident and alive and happy within your own skin.
It worries me that there may be someone out there who feels that they can find nothing, or who says there is nothing that they feel happy about. If anyone is truly that despondent there may be more going on than Tarot can help. There is no shame in getting help when it is needed. That is what the knight of wands would do. The knight of wands would take action to help the world within.
Thom Pham hit the bullseye for today’s energy when he put Top Gun Maverick on a motorcycle on the card. The character alludes to so much. There are elements of self discovery as well as that sense of all-out, mach 2 with your hair on fire passionate living. What would the day be like if we turned that passion toward something we already know and already have that makes us happy?
The card reminds me of a few quotes.
I don’t know if it is accurate, but Abraham Lincoln is cited as saying “People are as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
The other is the story from who-knows-where. The internet in its wisdom attributes it to Buddha. A person asks what he should do. “I want happiness,” he said. Buddha answered that the first thing to do is to remove the word “I” because that is ego. Then remove the word “want” because that is desire. Then look to see what is left. It’s just happiness sitting there waiting for you.
Happiness is already on hand. It’s just waiting for you to pick it up.
Thank you for watching, reading and listening to TaoCraft Short Sip – Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your morning coffee. Any likes, subs, shares, blog follows or reading orders you can spare are always appreciated.
Short Sip Tarot readings are available on the TaoCraft Tarot blog and as a podcast. The Clairvoyant Confessional Podcast will become the TaoCraft Tarot podcast starting in 2022. Watch the real world card draw for these short sip readings on the TaoCraft Tarot youtube channel and instagram reels.
As we go into the December 2021 holiday season, readings will post a little less regularly, but will resume a normal schedule after new year.
My name is Ronda. I read Tarot, write stuff and make things. I also wish everyone a very happy, healthy, safe and prosperous holiday and New Year.
See you at the next sip.
Thanks for watching, reading and listening today. TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee.
Today’s card is the Two of Pentacles.
The Two of Pentacles is the quintessential balance card in the deck. In some ways it is even more balance oriented than Temperance in the major arcana. Temperance has a feel of balance by mixing. The Two of Pents is balance through the adjustment and tension between opposites. In this kind of balance, the balance point is also a tipping point.
In the yin-yang symbol of Taoism, the opposite colored dots in each side of the circle remind us that in anything lies the seed of it’s opposite. Anything take to extreme can become its opposite. Anything in perfect balance can tip into its opposite.
In Dune, Frank Herbert writes “A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct.” Both beginnings and balances are delicate things. Both are dynamic, changing things.
The yin-yang symbol is meant to be in motion. The trailing tail of the black and white parts hint at that motion, as apposed to showing perfect pie-slice halves. Balance is a thing in motion too. This card always brings to mind a unicycle rider who can stay upright in one place by making small forward and backward movements . In the big picture, they may not seem to be moving forward, but in order to stay upright, there is a lot of movement going on in the wheel, just in balanced opposite directions.
Pentacle cards are often read as being about work, career, money, practicality or some aspect of the physical world. They are also associated with the element of earth and by extension the idea of grounding and balance. Everybody talks about “finding balance.” But what do you do once you have it?
Balance is easier to maintain than to get in the first place, but once you have it, it takes a little attention to maintain it because life is in motion. Opposites are always at the doorstep. Which one would you invite in? Which one would you use to maintain a delicate balance when a balance point is also a tipping point.
Thank you for watching, listening and reading! Any likes, subs, shares, blog follows or reading orders you can spare are always appreciated!
See you at the next sip.
Thank you for reading, listening and watching TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from a contemplative cup of coffee. Any likes, subs, follows or shares you can spare are always much appreciated.
Today’s card is the Five of Swords. It is usually associated with challenges, obsacles, even outright defeat. It’s considered a negative card in a lot of ways, although not as ominous as the three of swords or the devil card. It is another of the cards where I prefer the artwork in the Witches Tarot deck by Ellen Dugan and Mark Evans that depicts a dragonfly flying upward, along with the swords. It hints at risk, challenge, potential damage….but at the same time hints at illusion, and self defeat. The dragonfly is still free to fly around the swords, just as the person on this Waite-Smith card is standing ready, strong and free not to mention very well armed.
There is a sense of advice around the card today. There are enough challenges and risks and defeats in life that you don’t need to add any of the DIY variety. Be on guard for tricking yourself into thinking things are more combative than they really are. If you are feeling defensive, try to understand what you are defending against. Your feelings are not unfounded, but over-reacting or compounding real concerns with imagined ones does not help the situation.
This morning’s energy reminds me of two quotes.
The first one has always been a favorite of mine, it cools off a flaring temper when, as we call it in Pittsburgh, Jagoffery abounds. James Marcus Bach, auther of Secrets of the Buccaneer Scholar once tweeted that “people get defensive because they have something to defend.” In other words, stay chill, you don’t know what other people are going through. By the same token, honor your own feelings of defensiveness. You are defending something – the helpful thing is to understand what you are defending. It’s ok to be ready, to stand up for yourself, to set healthy boundaries. For all of its peaceful zen insight energy, Tarot isn’t against a healthy sense of self and self-defense.
The card also brings to mind the quote from Eleanor Roosevelt “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
No matter how much conflict is actually happening, no matter how much self defense is actually needed, when it comes to feeling inferior or feeling judged there is no need to DIY that one. Life is challenging enough without our adding to it.
If you have any questions or feedback or if you have other Tarot content you’d like to see, the comments are open on the blog and on all of the TaoCraft Tarot socials. Your questions are always welcome. Thank you for your support!
See you soon for our next sip of Tarot.
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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