I watched the one and only season of Cowboy Bebop for the first time surprisingly recently. Funny how all of that adulting can get in the way of your TV watching time. The whole thing was as awesome as I’d always heard.
Spike Spiegel came to mind with the Two of Pentacles this morning because of the episode on Venus where he was teaching the kid in the airport how to fight. I was all about being relaxed which gives you clarity, control and speed.
That’s a real thing, by the way. Staying relaxed and breathing was my biggest nemisis in my brief spin through martial arts sparring back in the day.
Spike pretty much summed up the classic Bruce Lee “be water my friend” interview:
If Taoist influenced Jeet Kun Do isn’t your cup of water, then a weather report captures the same idea.
Storms are driven by low pressure. The most destructive hurricanes have the lowest atmospheric pressure at the center.
Beware the quiet ones. Relaxed fighters are the ones in control. Like the figure on the Two of Pentacles, you might have to juggle your way through a life that is a circus on the outside. If you can find SOME way to find your calm, find your low pressure center, then you aren’t just another circus act. You are, as the popular internet meme says, the storm.
In the video, we said that two cards in general can allude to either balance, or a decision. Usually, the decision in question is relatively minor and one of those “six of one and half-dozen of another” all things being equal kind of decisions.
As I give today’s energy a little thought, it still seems that balance is the thread of meaning that carries more energy, but at the same time the idea of “it’s both” steps forward, too.
What about deciding to balance?
Decisions are inseparable from balance. My favorite example is riding a unicycle. The rider is constantly making small adjustments in order to keep the unicycle upright. For those of us who don’t ride unicycles, you can see the adjustments the rider makes with the pedals and the movement of the wheel. The rider has to learn…to know and decide in the moment how to move the pedals in order to keep their balance.
Balance might serve as a good tie-breaker if you have a practical decision to make between two equal seeming things. Of the two, what will make your life more balanced? Little things mean a lot. Small decisions can add up to big effects. Opt for balance in little things to avoid big tipping points later.
Sometimes it really is hard to choose between two eqal things. They are intended to be lighthearted and fun, maybe a little snarky, but a Zombie Cat yes-or-no readings can help you sort out small choices where all things seem equal and bigger connections (like balance) are hard to see. Distance Tarot is my specialty. Order anytime, no appointment needed, HERE
Pick a card, any card. Actually, you get to choose between left, center or right.
Pick on impulse or, if you want a little time to ponder or get a feel for which card is right for you, pause the video and restart when you are ready to see the reveal.
Listen to the video interpretation and/or read the guidance for this week for the card you chose below.
Any likes, youtube subs, blog or video shares, blog follows or reading orders you can spare are always, always appreciated!
You know how it goes…a journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step, and you have to have a plan before life and random circumstances can blow it to bits, so here is the main 2021 plan (she said as she puts on eye protection and readies the catcher’s mitt for the inevitable plan-schraphnel)
“YouChoose” interactive Tarot will post on the YouTube channel and here on the blog sometime between Saturday afternoon and Monday morning inclusive
Today’s Tarot with video will post both place on Wednesday morning. Ish.
Other days will have print-only content: Zombie Cat Answers (ask your free question HERE for Z.C. to answer in the blog) My Side of the Table, and other topics. Most other days. Some of them. I’m really hoping to be busy doing readings and/or selling stuff in the Etsy shop in addition to blogging.
The comments are OPEN so please feel free to send any non-spam questions or feedback. Tell me the Tarot content you would like to see, and I will do my best to try and create it!
When all the cards are taken together, there is a lot of active, creative energy and movement. The card you chose might be a hint where in the creative or project process is best for your attention because that is where the energy is flowing. The cards feel more aligned with their traditional element associations than with traditional meanings or the more contemporary ‘relationship with…’ meanings.
Left: Ace of Cups. Think water meets creativity. The energy here are raw creative flow. Imagine. Innovate. This is the early phase of creativity. This is the “dream it” part of “dream it and then do it.”
Center: Nine of Wands. This is fire and energy. This is the mid point of the creative process that moves from create to make. This is the part where you stop obsessing over planning and get up and do the thing. Execute. If you chose this card it is time to go all 80s movie montage on this – kick the tires and light the fires, baby!
Right: Two of Pentacles. The most balance-y card this side of the major arcana and Temperance. This is all fine points and fine tuning. Again I get three rotating points, like a juggler or a triquetra sort of shape. It may not be a literal three, but rather symbolic of many moving parts. If you chose this card, you might find yourself with a lot of moving parts to track. Earth is the element here, so stay grounded, centered…be the center of gravity around which all those moving parts move instead of letting them pull and drag you in every which direction. Spirit (energy, the collective unconscious – whatever you like to call it) has been into music the past couple of days. Here I’m getting “Loves Me Like a Rock” by Paul Simon. I guess it is oldies day in the spirit realm. But that is the energy of the card….earth energy, solid, centered rooted energy to keep your balance, not matter how many moving parts are whirling around this week.
Thanks for reading and watching! Best wishes to you for this and every week.
Thank you to everyone for your saint-like patience the past week, including today. Made a trip out of state for family reasons, and have been playing a little catch up the laundry today. Sorry to YouTube folks for the delay posting the written part of this.
Not a lot going on as far as announcements go. The 2nd anniversary Tarot reading giveaway is still going on (use the contact form on the special offers page to get yours)
It’s going to be a big financial hit, but I won’t be doing parties or in-person readings this Halloween season because our local test positive rates are still around 5% and outside of stores, mask wearing is spotty at best. It just isn’t worth the risk. I hope you will get one of the free digital handwritten one card reading. It might be a nice way to cheer ourselves a bit as we head toward flu season and a possible covid resurgence.
That being said –
Left: Knight of Wands. Knight are usually the action heroes, all about doing something. In this case the action part of the knight card is taking a little bit of a back seat. This card was featured in the book / mini-series “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel” as a sign of the second magician appearing who would bring magic back to England. Rather than physical action, this card is a symbol of action, a place holder for action when we look at all three of this week’s cards together (more on that later.) This knight for this week isn’t about physical doing…it is all about spiritual doing. Call it magic(k) if you like. In subtle energy work, intention is everything. Astrology isn’t my specialty, but the full moon coming soon seems significant. If you feel drawn to astrology, please do research and find out what a full moon in Pisces means for you. This is a good week to stop being caught up in the physical day to day activity, and focus on your intentions, pay attention to your energies. You get what you give. Deliberately and actively set your mental and spiritual intentions, think of it as activity and quiet thought in exquisite balance
Center: Four of Swords. When we exercise rest is a thing. Muscles need a little rest every now and then in order to repair and become stronger. Rest is a necessary opposite to action in order for things to work as they should. While swords cards, like knight cards, often denote action the four in particular denotes rest and repose. Proper sleep is necessary for healthy minds and bodies. To move forward in battle, warriors will stop and look and see what must be done, what is the most effective way to proceed. If you chose this card, it might be a more active and busy week than for other people, but don’t just charge ahead in order to get through it all at any cost. Look before you leap. Think of it as observation and analysis in exquisite balance with swift action.
Right: Two of Pentacles. This is the classic card about balance. Only Temperance gives a stronger message about keeping everything in check and not getting too extreme with anything just now. Moderation is your friend. This card is about dynamic balance, moving parts, constantly adjusting, a little like the constant adjustments a unicycle rider makes. Balance is a key idea this week. Watch for anything that is getting to be too much, try not to get ‘out over your skis” as they say about anything, but given this is coins card, you might want to pay particular attention to work-life balance. Think of it as exquisite balance in, well, everything.
Taken together, these three cards are all about an exquisite balance. We just had the autumnal equinox, day and night in perfect balance. Think of the old myth of balancing an egg on its end on the equinoxes. This is the most fleeting tiny pause, the breath holding, one-footed moment on a tightrope, that can only last the barest second before the tightrope walker must tilt to one side, or the other, or take a step forward or take a step backward. Nature abhors a vacuum and gives precious little time to any sort of static balance. This week feels to be the tiniest pause, a balance that can’t last, a held breath before the exhale must happen, an equinox of energies. Gather in the magic of this fleeting golden moment before that balance born of change and motion must begin again.
Left: Ace of Pentacles. Imagine, just just for a day or just an afternoon, imagine that you are lucky. Then watch how things unfold for a day or two. Who knows? Maybe you are.
Middle: Knight of Wands. Something magick this way comes. Indulge the mystical if ghat is how you feel. Feeling more black than Friday? Honor those feelings, but best not to take them out on unsuspecting retail workers or random happy people. Play that metal music. Watch that horror film. Binge Jonatan Strange and Mr. Norrel. Honest emotion honored well fits any time of year.
Right: Two of Pentacles. Keeping work and fun in balance is a challenge any time of year. If you HAVE to do it, might as well make a game of it. Who says you can’t wear an elf hat to the office?
Diane Morgan’s Magical Tarot, Mystical Tao is for all the obvious reasons, one of my all time favorite Tarot books.
I first read Magical Tarot, Mystical Tao early in the 2000s, at the beginning in my professional Tarot career, just as I began reading for online services like Advice Trader and Allexperts. I’d been reading Tarot and oracle cards (Medicine Cards by Carson and Samms mostly) for nearly 10 years by that point. I’d been interested in Taijiquan (Tai Chi) and Taoism even longer than that.
Of all the cards in the Tarot deck, the two of Pentacles / Coins is arguably the most emblematic of all that Tarot and Taoism share. We short hand the card as balance, but it is more of a juggling act than that. The balance here is large and moving and dynamic. Balance alone can be static, like a stack of zen stones, or a scales showing accurate weight.
That is balance, but there is also what science calls dynamic equilibrium. The classic example of dynamic equilibrium is a permeable membrane between two solutions. Think of fresh water and salt water divided by some sort of plastic wrap with tiny holes in it. The molecules on both sides are always vibrating and wiggling around (that is heat, so let’s imagine this is all happening at room temperature, not absolute zero. Even a polar vortex isn’t that cold.) Over time the water and salt molecules wiggle through the holes in the membrane until there is the same concentration of salt and water on both sides. Once that happens, the molecules don’t stop jiggling and juggling around. It is still room temperature, there is still heat and molecule movement going on. If you follow individual specks of salt, they may be moving the whole time, one side to the other. Same for specks of water. In spite of the little specks dancing around, the total amounts of each stay in balance on both sides. The little buggers move…it’s dynamic. The whole system, the whole tank of water, keeps its balance of salt and water concentrations…it is in equilibrium. That kind of balance is very much a part of the 2 of coins. The artwork in the card on most RWS decks hint at movement, the man walking and juggling , a woman bicycling (Steampunk Tarot) a tightrope walker (Robin Wood Tarot) even someone standing on their head (Quantum Tarot) The two of coins reminds us as much of dynamic equilibrium as a static balance. The sideways figure 8, the infinity symbol, is often used as part of the cards image to indicate that balance. It also shows us just how big the water tank is. The system that is in dynamic equilibrium is nothing less than the whole darn universe. Sure things are going to get very out of balance, if not downright wonky in our individual part of the cosmos, but infinity wide, things unfold as they should, according to their nature.
Which is all a very Taoist like way of looking at it. The Taoist point of view values that kind of big picture dynamic equilibrium. It values balance in general…static and moving…and is more than willing to consider the Tao, the everything and then some, in finding that natural moving balance. Harmony of opposites is another, easier way to put it. The well known yin yang symbol that is emblematic of the philosophy is actually intended to be in motion. The dots are the seeds that grow into their opposite. If you look just at the yin or yang, the black or white, each part is always growing, shrinking, turning. Yet, within the circle as a whole, even among all that movement, there ends up being balanced, equal amounts of black and white, yin and yang.
That is the energy flow the two of coins can help us to find. The two is always about balance. Is it static or dynamic? What kind of balance do we need? Are we looking at one little jiggly speck of salt in the water and feeling out of balance? Would it help to look for larger, moving systems when we look for balance in out lives or would it help to look for the little but very stable balance points like stacking Zen rocks? How do you know? The balance is of opposites, remember? The dots are the clue. In each lies the seed of its opposite. If you have been focusing on static stable balance, but it isn’t working, take a step back and look at the big picture, moving systemic balance. If the system seems chaos and everything is flying apart…look for anchors. Look for the solid, stable, static parts on which to build some balance.
Stones and yin yang images from the public domain. Jimmy Neutron property of Nickelodeon via youtube.com.
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
You must be logged in to post a comment.