It was either Carl Jung or Buddhism or both that teaches that the very things that annoy the hell out of you are some of your best teachers.
Valentine’s day annoys the hell out of me, but I’ve been doing the “My Tarot Valentine” thing for years.
Why?
Because I get it how deeply important relationships – of all kinds – are to a happy, healthy, fulfilling life.
But also because it’s popular and I wanted to advertise my professional Tarot readings back when I was doing that.
Stay tuned for what may well be the really, actually, truly last “My Tarot Valentine” with the mic drop piece of advice when it comes to romance.
Don’t wait on someone else – BE the love you want in your life. GIVE the love you want in your life. Then the love is inseparable from your life. No if or when required. That’s how, and that’s right now.
When you give love and kindness and strength and fun – to others AND yourself – all of those things become an integral part of your life. A soulmate and life partner is the frosting on the cake, not the cake itself.
If you have that special someone – love them with your whole heart and every cell like you love the air you breathe. That is a whole other kettle of fish, as the saying goes. This is for those still waiting.
The Tarot’s advice is stop waiting and start loving whatever you can that is here and now – including you. Do that and the whole Valentine’s Day idealized romantic relationship thing will take care of itself.
Happiness isn’t at your fingertips. It’s inside them.
Looking for happiness is like trying to buy a one of a kind item that you already own. Or to paraphrase the adage Mark Salzman references in Iron and Silk – looking for happiness is like looking for the donkey you are already riding on.
Only you can decide what, if anything, makes you happy. Only you can decide if and when you are happy. No one can else can make you happy – only you.
And if that is true, then no one else can take your happiness away.
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
I’m loving the Alleyman card today – mostly because I am in my happy place, at home drinking coffee, watching the Olympics and knitting.
Very often, the Four of Wands is associated with community celebrations in support of the family or individuals within that community – think birthday parties, weddings or baby showers.
Sometimes there is a sense of sanctuary, with some sort of shelter in the art work, be it open and symbolic or a literal structure. The Pamela Smith RWS deck artwork shows both a wedding chupah and a fortress or castle.
The open shelter images also give a sense of a portal or a gateway. This kind of energy doesn’t come as often as the other, but it steps forward today.
Today is the most optimistic week-ahead energy I’ve felt in a long time.
I hear “ripe with potential.”
I know, I know – that’s not the exact adage, but I’m not going to go all grammar police on the powers that be. I hate pedantry.
I also get “opportunities are what we make of them.”
This isn’t the time to let up. Keep up the pressure. When the christofascists rock back on their heels even a little bit…push harder.
Doors can be shown, doors can be opened, but we can’t walk through them for another.
We must each walk through each door for ourselves.
Or shove unwanted energies out of them.
It is a week of portals and possibilities.
It’s up to you what to draw in, push out or walk through.
Deck in video: Alleyman’s Tarot by Seven Dane Asmund, used with permission Publishing Goblin LLC
“…the storm is a good opportunity for the pine and the cypress to show their strength and stability.”
Life can be a dumpster fire. Or a sudden storm. Or a dumpster fire in a storm.
When that happens…and it always does at some point for everyone…you do what you have to do to make it through.
During those times stability and comfort zones are sometimes more helpful than striving, goals or lofty ideals – even our so-called “personal growth.”
When the dumpster fire is particularly raging, it can help to get granular, get smaller but more stable. A lower center of gravity is more stable.
But so is flexibility. The tree that bends in strong winds doesn’t break. That is why coastal cypress trees are a classic symbol of strength in the storm.
When the storm comes, it is an opportunity to be the creator and protector of your own little bubble of strength and stability. You alone can’t stop the storm, but you can control your reaction to it. You can control your hunkering down and seeking shelter, protecting you and yours as best as you can.
The protective, competent, powerful, self-confident energy of the Emperor card reminds us of this.
Anything helps. Anything is better than nothing. This is where all the little milquetoast platitudes and meme-ish affirmations take on some actual value. Anything you can do to create a little stability for yourself, anything that will foster the strength and flexibility that you need has benefit. Meditation for even a few minutes, sitting and staring at your morning coffee for a few minutes, say that affirmation to yourself in the mirror, scroll and inspirational social media feed – draw that Tarot card.
You don’t have to be a towering redwood. A short and supple pine tree will do just fine.
If enough of us become our own little cypress tree, soon we can have a whole forest that can withstand any storm.
Two things piqued my interest in Lenormand Tarot. First, a friend described them as giving blunt, direct, plain-talking, hit-you-over-the-head. That alone was enough to prompt me to get a deck and explore. Then an episode of The Circle is Podcast with Mat Auryn and Rachel True confirmed my experience with the deck with their own observations: The cards connect in a linguistic, sentence-like way.
It is part of the Lenormand technique to interpret cards in the context of adjacent cards instead of the context of layout position meanings as in RWS style Tarot. The cards seemed to me to be a combination of short, direct, blunt, frying-pan-to-the-face messages in a short but very connected format, like a two word sentence. In the case of these “Action Eases Anxiety” layouts it is noun-verb, specifically current energy and what to do about it.
Today, the cards are so blended they don’t even keep that minimal subject/verb sentence order. They meld together into a single message. The book hints at knowledge. Lenormand doesn’t usually pay any attention to reversals, but in the reversal feels significant, and related to the hidden and inner knowledge energies in recent readings with the queen of wands and the last Action Eases Anxiety layout. Christopher Butler, in the Healing Light guidebook connects the stork with change and “upheaval” – both an understatement here in the U.S.
In essence we are advised to study the old, lofi, hidden, analog, offline, real world ways to learn how to survive the upheaval at hand. Humans have done this before. The knowledge about how to choose your side and live well in it exists, but is hidden, to protect it.
This reading can resonate with anyone, anywhere, at any time – if it feels right for you, it’s yours. The reading also feels like it is directed at those of us in the US who are forecast to (GASP!!) get a bunch of snow in the middle of January. Get your snackies, beer, stuff for sandwiches if the power goes out and ingredients for soup and cookies if it doesn’t. It’s a good excuse to stay home, and stick it to capitalism by not buying a damn thing extra all weekend. Stay safe, stay warm and be good to yourself. This is an introvert’s paradise, so extroverts are on their own for this one. Imma knit and read and putz around on the website.
This layout lends itself well to Lenormand decks. It’s like a simple sentence, subject and verb. It shows us what the energy is and suggests a good thing to do about it.
Doing something (even if that something is wait, watch or conserve) can take the edge off of worries. Just having an action plan can help, even if you don’t wind up using it.
Current energy: The Stars.
I ‘hear’ “the road to riches is close at hand but hidden” This is a good omen type of card similar to the Star card in the RWS major arcana. It speaks to good fortune at hand, but it also has elements of subtle guidance. It hints at doing the necessary mental work for find your good fortune. Look before you leap, think before you act, but in the end, actions speak louder than words. You have to take steps in order to walk the road to good fortune.
What to do: The Bear.
Protect what you have. Don’t be a spendthrift just now. As Ben Franklin said “a penny saved is a penny earned.”
The deck author, Christopher Butler describes this card as a very mama bear energy.
Don’t just stand up for what you believe in, sit with it. Share space and spend time with the things and people most important to you as far as you are able. Send your thoughts and check in with friends and loved ones if you can’t physically be there.
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See you at the next sip!
Deck: Healing Light Lenormand by Chrstopher Butler copyright 2021 all rights reserved. Used with permissions granted on llwellynpublishing.com.
CURRENT ENERGY: The Tower. You can’t control the world, but you are 100% in control of how you respond to it. Don’t pray for protection or to be given something. Pray instead for the strength and resources to keep yourself safe, to make or create the things you want.
WHAT TO DO: The Stork. This is the birth of something new and different. Change strategies. DO things differently to get different or better results. This is it. It’s your time to step up and do what you need to do for your own well being and those you love. Now is a good time to be the change you want to see in your inner world, and maybe the outer one too.
Happy New Year! Thanks for reading in 2025! I hope you will stick around for 2026 too. Sage Sips Tarot blog will stay free to read, no paywall at all, supported by Tarot fans like you.
2025 was a helluva year or a lot of folks individually not to mention the collective energy here in what was the United States. Inspired by my favorite meditation teacher, Dan Harris (inner peace, motherfuckers!) “Action Eases Anxiety” is stepping forward as a key idea for the new year. What is that David Axelrod quote? “Everything you can do is all you can do” or something like that. If we do all we can, then whatever happens we can also rest easy without regrets knowing we did everything possible. Then we can regroup, re-plan, re-relieve any new anxieties and try again as needed without beating up on ourselves about it.
Given that energy, I’m setting aside the usual prediction-tinged “Season” layout and bringing back what I used to call the “Timeflow” layout or some such thing. For 2026, I think a better name might be “Action Plans Ease Anxiety” I’ve re-worked the layout meanings to be a more substantial version of the two card Lenormand “Action Eases Anxiety” layout.
Understanding a problem is key to solving it, yes. But that kind of understanding is the foundation of any Tarot work, really, not predictions. I’ve said it before and I’m going to keep saying it…Tarot doesn’t tell you what is going to happen in life, Tarot helps you know what to do when life happens. This year the plan is to post primarily daily meditation readings, two card Lenormand action eases anxiety readings, and these larger Time Flow / Action Plan (I need to come up with a better name for this thing. PLEASE – feel free to leave suggestions in the comments!)
Anyway, here is today’s layout with the intention behind each card position
The general pattern of any layout holds its own message over an above the meanings of the individual cards. It can give context to the individual cards or it can be a whole message in and of itself within the context of the reading.
Today this is a whole-assed message, almost independent of everything else. Three out of the four cards are major arcana. This is nothing short of a loud buckle up buttercup we are going for a ride.
High energy doesn’t mean bad energy. I ‘hear’ “glimpse of recovery” as if the high energy is re-energizing more than doom-saying. I see sunny gold light and a clover lawn. (Bonus points – look up the clover card in the Lenormand deck). The level expanse of clover makes me thing that the energy and dynamics are all ‘under the hood’ Earlier today @spiralseatarot on Threads posted about the common wand image on the Magician and three other cards. In numerology, 2026 is a ONE year (2+0+2+6 = 10 and 1+0 = 1) The magician is typically numbered 1 in the RWS style Tarot decks, a magic wand echoes the shape of the number one. Both last night and this morning I coincidentally looked at the clock at 11:11. Wands in Tarot are self, and the element of fire. Be mindful and prepared and ready to control the fire, but in the end the Phoenix of 2026 rises from the ashes of 2025.
Part of me thinks all of that sounds a little psychotic. The bigger, intuitive part thinks we are being hit over the head with a message to “rekindle the fire within.”
The “Hold It Tight” card is about the things that are beneficial, helpful or very much needed in this moment – but might have been flying under your reader. This is an idea to pull out of the shadows, embrace and USE.
Here we see the Emperor. I’m not very knowledgeable when it comes to Norse Mythology, but I’m getting an Odin vibe here. That is the face to put on the Emperor card in this context. BE YOUR OWN ODIN. I don’t remember the author, but read on social media from a pagan themed feed that the typical christian-ish prayer mindset was to pray asking for protection and safety from diety, while the Nordic pagan mindset was to pray and ask for the strength and resources to protect ourselves. That is the message of the Emperor today. It is a reminder that what we need can be available. We aren’t going to be rescued, but we can / will be able to get the strength, wisdom, and resources to help ourselves and those around us. Hold tight to that strategy and mindset.
“Let It Go” is just exactly that – release the things that no longer serve so those things can move to another place to help and serve others. Don’t carry what you no longer need to carry. Release makes space for better things to fill in.
Here we see The Sun – happiness. This is a very Buddha – like paradox. Let go of happiness…to find happiness?
Yup.
It’s not the happiness you are letting go…it’s the searching, striving and TRYING to be happy that has to go.
Stop trying to be happy and stop relying on something or someone in order to be happy. Stop the search for happiness…and just be happy right here, right now with things just as they are in SPITE of everything being just as they are right now. Let go of finding happiness, and just BE whatever you are. It’s like the old Tshirt…Smile. It makes everyone wonder what you are up to.
Or, as Mark Salzberg wrote in Iron and Silk, “There is a saying that it’s the height of stupidity to look for the donkey that you’re already riding on.”
If you spend your time and effort looking for happiness, you never find the happiness that has been riding around inside you the whole time.
“Queue It Up” is like the green room for a TV guest on a talk show, or the on-deck circle for the next batter in a baseball game. This is a growing energy, that is close at hand but not quite in its time just yet. Timing is a theme here, combined with a message to trust your own instincts. This tells you what would be good to carry in your back pocket…your intuition will tell you better than anything when is the right time to deploy this action or this idea. “Queue it up” is something to prepare so you can use it when your intuition says the time is right.
In this case we see our third major arcana card, The Fool. The thing we are preparing is ourselves. All of this manifesting and ash-rising might require a little agility. You might be asked to start something new on spur of the moment. A chance, a leap of faith might crop up in this year’s energy environment, and this card is advising us to keep a little openness, adaptability and willingness to say yes to the unexpected in our pocket so we can take advantage of any sudden, unexpected but excellent opportunities.
Finally we come to the card of the moment. THIS is the idea whose time has come. This is where to focus our energy and attention right NOW. This has an element of release, too, being located right next to our “let it go” card…but this isn’t something to release, but rather something to ALLOW – this is the task at hand, and the flow to roll with.
Being the only minor arcana card gives two hints….that this nonthreatening. It isn’t the big Major arcana energy…it’s going to be ok. Trust. Flow.
Also this is the path of least resistance right now. Fighting the flow might be exhausting. Let it be easy for a few minutes. Not everything has to be filled with effort and striving. Here we get an echo of the previous Sun card’s message.
The ten of pentacles is also a card of happiness. True happiness, and appreciation and gratitude for all that money can’t buy. This is the donkey. This is the happiness we already have that we can only find when we let go of all the striving and looking and trying.
Here I am giving another pop culture reference. It echoes the social media reference to praying for strength over being protected because strength can be used to protect ourselves and those we love as well.
In the TV adaptation of Neil Gaimon’s American Gods, a character said that is the difference between his (Muslim?) prayer and that of the typical American – we pray to be given stuff, while in his tradition they pray to give thanks for what they already have.
Sit with that idea for a while. It is a game changer.
In summary, no one is saving us this year. This is the year when we learn to save ourselves. This isn’t the year when someone or something will make us happy – this is the year when we stop looking for happiness and can discover it was there all along.
Where ever or however you find it, I wish you a year of peace, health, and happiness.
Personally, I love a holiday that is open to anyone and everyone and no one gives a flying hootenanny how you celebrate. Good food. A plain pole. A stack of beer cans. It’s all good.
The Ten of Wands speaks to obligations that we put on ourselves, and the blockages, challenges and obstacles of our own making
Releasing holiday obligations that we put on ourselves (and that can kindle resentments) is its own kind of transformative holiday magic. Letting go of the things that no longer serve others OR yourself may be a little emotionally wrenching or guilt-ridden, especially during the winter holidays, but it makes room for something new, something joyous.
It’s been said that traditions are simply allowing ourselves to be held hostage by dead people. There is some truth to that. But there is also a a great truth that sameness and tradition can be extremely valuable and comforting in turbulent times. The more things suck now, the more we need comforting things like favorite movies and holiday traditions.
Especially those traditions that contain more meaning than money.
It’s OK to keep the perfect from being the enemy of the good.
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I follow a number of Taoist, Buddhist, Accupressure, Traditional Chinese Medicine and other such social media feeds.
This being the waning weeks of the year of the snake has popped up several times over the past few days, associating the end of the year with a metaphoric shedding of skin, as a snake does when it grows and enters a new cycle.
It reminds me of the ouroboros, the image of a snake or dragon eating its own tail that is said to symbolize cycles destruction and rebirth.
Drawing the Star card from the major arcana fits exactly that energy today.
This card is sometimes associated with guidance – like ancient sailors using the stars for navigation. Of course, this winter holiday season, the Christian minded among us might think of the star in the three kings legend. But that isn’t the energy this time at all.
Reference after reference connects The Star with rebirth and renewal.
This is much more cyclic. This is snake skin and ouroboros circles. It’s not about a singular point of guidance. It’s much more complex than that.
When I drew the Star card, I intuitively ‘heard’ “echoing silence” and was reminded of winter nights with a clear sky over snow-covered ground. Even if you are in a city parking lot or a suburban driveway, the night and silence are profound, the quiet echoing behind any noise you might hear.
We are at a cusp. We are at the tail of the ouroboros snake. No one star guides us through this transition.
An entire galaxy of stars promise rebirth.
As dark as this night may be, as anxious and terrifying as the echoing, frigid silence may feel, the stars burn on.
Even the stars move. Everything changes. And that includes changes for the better just as much as the tragedies our fears so often imagine.
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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