yes or no – Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot

Happy Functional Summer!

Ask Zombie Cat anything (link below) to get a free Tarot reading answer in the blog.

Happy Pride Month! I hope you know by now that this is a lgbtquia2+ safe space.

We are past the “unofficial” Memorial Day start to summer. It’s officially meteorological summer and hurricane season here in the northern hemisphere.

To make it super-duper official, Zombie Cat is shambling.

Zombie Cat yes/no readings throw caution to the wind and answer any questions you want with the caveat that these readings have at least a 50% chance of being dead wrong. So ask me, I mean, Zombie Cat anything – at your own risk of course. Zombie Cat readings are all tongue in what’s left of his cheek entertainment only.

Zombie Cat shambles through the summer until the equinox. For anyone new since last summer, meet Zombie Cat.

“People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint – it’s more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly… time-y wimey… stuff.”

– Doctor Who in the “Blink” episode written by Steven Moffat.

There are two words that make me cringe a little when I read (or hear) them in a Tarot question: “Will” and “When”.

Predictions and time are knotty subjects in this work.

Predictions are actually a scientific thing. A scientific prediction is in many ways an expert opinion about what should happen based on existing data and past results. For example, we can predict where in the sky Mars will be a year from now based on laws of gravity, planetary motion, existing observations and so on. As I understand it, that is the kind of “prediction” that a law of physics or scientific principle has to be able to make in order for the principle to be considered valid within the scientific method.

Science spends so much time and energy bashing and demeaning “psychic predictions” when they are, in essence, the same as the scientific kind of predictions. The psychic reader is an objective observer, knows human nature, and can see trends that the person getting the reading may not see. A Tarot reader can predict where things are going in a relationship just like a scientist can predict where Mars is headed over the next year. The only real difference is psychic predictions are based on non-linear logic and de facto psychology instead of linear logic and hard data.

And that is looking at it from a very superficial, everyday experience point of view. This is Isaac Newton kind of stuff. It’s like predicting that when an apple detaches from the tree, it will fall down. What if we go a just a little bit quantum about it?

Think Schrodinger’s Cat.

In theory, once the experiment is set up and started, the cat could come out of it alive or not. But why not both if you are into zombies? Or neither one if the cat suddenly ceased to exist? Disappearing / Zombie Cat could happen…it’s just extreme magnitudes of unlikely as I understand the BBC Horizon Series’ program “Parallel Universes” (hosted by Dr. Michio Kaku, based on his book “Parallel Worlds”)

When the moment of discovery is still in the future, the possibility and attendant probability exists for all outcomes. In the mysterious and undetermined future, all four conditions exist, even our unlikely disappearing / undead pet. Can you predict which way THAT is headed using nothing but your brain and handful of Tarot cards? If you “predict” the more likely dead vs alive construct, is that psychic or science? If you predict Zombie Cat, is that quackery or was the intuitive vision simply dialed into a different part of a far flung multiverse?

Zombie Cat may well exist out there. We don’t know because multiverses, as the video says, is unproven. No-cat and Zombie Cat might be out there, but they just don’t make the jump from possible to probable to IS, at least not in this world. All potentials exists until “the wave collapses” and the moment becomes NOW instead of future, and then slips instantly into the past. Now and Past are fully collapsed probability waves. They exist – ska-doosh! – done deal, nothing to predict. The future on the other hand, that’s a different animal still.

Now, just to make things really interesting, let’s introduce Zombie Cat to Alice the Vampire.

In the movie Twilight, the psychic vampire Alice could see the future insofar as people have decided what they want to do. If someone changes their mind or changes their action, then her vision changes. She can predict but with uncertainty. Her predictions are predicated on the course people are on, not any one fixed outcome. Alice the vampire’s visions and Zombie Cat’s existence are a matter of probability, not “accurate prediction.” And so it is with Tarot and psychic readings.

Let’s say our cat has human-like intelligence and has a choice rather than being a victim of circumstance as in the classic thought experiment. Using the Einstein gunpowder version of things, what if there was some choice the cat could make or some action it could take that would keep the gunpowder from exploding? What if it could disconnect the fuse? Now how do you make predictions under that set of conditions?

Imagine your psychic vision was of a dead cat? (a 50% probable outcome in the original experiment.) What if the cat heard you make that “psychic prediction” and blew out the fuse when it otherwise wouldn’t have? Was the prediction wrong?

Will you get that job? I dunno. Did you apply for it? Update your resume? Schedule an interview? Check the classifieds for other options? (What has the cat done to keep the powder from exploding) Has the person doing the hiring made any decisions or taken any actions? (collapsed the probability wave)

A reading can’t predict a specific outcome, but it can give you advice and it can help you make decisions that nudge the probabilities of getting the job in your favor such as be flexible (4 of swords), emphasize your skills and experience (The Emperor) or show you’d be a hard working team player (3 of coins). A good advice reading is like the psychic yelling at the cat in the thought experiment bunker to blow out the fuse to improve the chances that it won’t blow up.

When will you get married? I dunno. The future is just as wibbly-wobbly as the Doctor told us. But Tarot can give you ideas about how to bring love and happiness of all sorts of things into your life. Intuition can help you make the best possible choices along the way, not predict what lies at the end of the road.

If you do nothing, take no advice, make no choices, then it is all just a coin toss. You might get anything from an explosion right up to a Zombie Cat. But who knows? Meeting a friendly Tarot reading Zombie Cat might be a lot of fun.

Seriously…meet Zombie Cat at 2015 prices…get your own private three card reading by email HERE ($15) or Ask Zombie Cat ANYTHING and get a FREE ZOMBIE CAT Tarot answer in the blog.

Videos by Minute Physics, via youtube.com creative commons permissions Please watch! I highly recommend them!

Inspired by “Test Tubes and Tarot Decks” episode of Menage A Tarot Podcast April 2015

The Way of Zombie Cat

Zombie Cat’s unique way of yes/no Tarot readings. Order your private yes/no with Zombie Cat, no appointment needed

There are lots of ways to do a yes or no reading.

In my experience, the most essential thing is to have a question in mind and keep it mind throughout whatever process you use. It’s the same intention-setting process that Tarot readers use to write a layout. Throwing cards willy-nilly isn’t as helpful as having a clear layout and layout meanings clearly in mind before turning the cards.

For yes/no readings, there are lists of cards that are yes or no, and you do a single card draw for a succinct answer. Some of the lists I’ve seen don’t have much rhyme or reason for the yes or no connotations assigned to each card. I’ve seen some methods that say swords and wands mean no while cups and coins mean yes, which leaves a much shorter list of yes/no associations for the major cards.

Years ago in an intuition development class led by Joy Star, I learned a more complex, interesting and (in my experience) helpful three card method:

Deal the cards into three stacks. Stop dealing to a stack when it gets an ace or 13 cards, whichever comes first.

Three aces means yes

Two aces means maybe, leaning yes

One ace means maybe, leaning no

No aces means no.

Of all the possible yes/no methods, this was my favorite. It’s the only yes/no method I use, but with a couple of minor twists.

Most of the time, once you’ve determined the yes or no, the reading ends there, kind of like one of those Magic 8 ball toys. I add an extra layer of depth to take this reading over and above a simple yes, no, or maybe. I look at the three cards that are showing, whatever the yes/no answer turns out to be. That extra layer of meaning can either help you to support the answer if you are happy with it or give clues on how to change it if you aren’t.

Just like with the five card layout that I wrote in 2003, I want these readings to empower your choices and empower your control over your future through basic cause and effect. I changed the number of aces meaning to align with a three coin toss from Chinese I Ching divination.

The I Ching (Book of Changes) is rooted in Taoist philosophy, and the principle of yin and yang. In the taijitu, the familiar yin-yang symbol, the opposite color dots remind us that anything in its extreme holds the seed of its opposite. In I Ching, three coins are used to determine if any given line is yin, yang, yin “changing” or Yang “changing.” A changing line is one believed to be so strongly yin or strongly yang that it is in the process of changing into its opposite. We can do a “learn with me” later to describe the rest of the I Ching divination process, but the changing line is the only part we need for now.

To bring the changing line concept into Tarot yes/no, I adapted the meanings connected to the number of aces that wind up showing at the end of the three-stack dealing process. If the pattern is akin to a changING line in I Ching, I read it as a changABLE result in the yes/no Tarot layout. A yes-but-changable or no-but-changable answer puts the ball most strongly in your court so to speak. The time and place and energy is extra amenable to you making a real impact on the outcome.

So Zombie Cat does a yes/no Tarot reading this way:

The cards are shuffled holding the question clearly in mind

The cards are dealt into three piles, stopping when there are 13 cards in the stack or an ace appears, whichever comes first.

One ace is a hard no, it may be very difficult to change course

Zero aces is no, but things are easier to change

Two aces is a hard yes, this is the way things are likely to go if you do nothing

Three aces means yes, but can change if you act.

I write these under my Zombie Cat persona, which means the reading takes a more lighthearted, playful tone with plenty of cringe attempts at humor.

Zombie Cat is going to be the member’s special for March. Between now and March 31, 2024 Sage Sip members can get an upgrade to Zombie Cat readings as a substitute for any of the one card Sage Sip readings that are included in the monthly membership.

Non-members can order a zombie cat yes/no readings anytime HERE, no appointment needed. Scroll down through the menu list of readings to find the Zombie Cat layout.

Have a good weekend everyone! See you at the next Sip!

Sage

Zombie Cat doodle – by the author

Cat image from the public domain, modified by the author

Short Sip Zombie Cat Tarot: Nope

Honesty is healing even when it is harsh.

No. uh-uh. Cards say noooo.

Hi and welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here. Short Sip episodes are Tarot contemplations for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee.

Yesterday we had a whole mug full with the rewrite of “Meet Zombie Cat.”

Today we are to sounding like that insurance company commercial that knows a thing or two because they’ve seen a thing or two. I’ve done a lot of Tarot readings. I stopped counting at 300 plus way back in my online “Baihu” days.

Tarot is best suited to answer”Am I doing the right thing?” but Tarot is most often asked things like “Will we get back together?”

Not, mind you, that it’s a bad question.

There are a billion different circumstances that are bad and worse that could lead to this question, but for now, let’s think of in terms of a non-married shorter term romantic break-up.

These types of break-up questions, while common, are the best and worst of Tarot all at the same time.

The bad part is the “will…” Can Tarot predict what will happen? Nope. Can Tarot read your significant other’s heart or mind or feelings or intentions or know what they will do? Big nope.

On the other hand, this is exactly the kind of situation where Tarot is at its best.

Have you ever noticed that criticisms of Tarot and psychic work are all laser focused on the prediction part and ignore the rest, which is missing the point as completely as you possibly can? Nothing is ever said about the real value of Tarot and Psychic readings: personal development, personal enrichment, spiritual expression, facing and understanding emotional distress, brainstorming creative solutions and spitballing ideas about how to CHOOSE and to ACT to make things better.

Nothing else in the human experience can make you feel like every bone and vital organ has been shattered into a million pieces like the loss of a beloved relationship. If Tarot readings can help soothe that kind of hurt for a moment, it is more than worth it, no matter what the critics say.

But it has to be a sincere reading, an authentic reading without the onus of accurate predictions. So-called accurate predictions are impossible to make anyway and only open the door to greater hurt. As with physicians, we must do no harm.

There is a big difference, however, between doing harm and uncovering anger. Anger is an honest emotion that may, if faced, lead to better things.

If you are the one hearing the “nope” then it is normal, natural, even expected to get angry when you get the answer that you’ve been dreading the most. In the long run a harsh truth is more healing than a sugar coated platitude. I’ve gotten nopes like this before and stomped off angry like the self-involved early twenty-something brat that I was. But looking back it was one of the best readings ever. Honesty heals even when it hurts. More so when it is given kindly and with the sympathetic tone of someone who has been through this kind of experience before – which is pretty much everybody. Calling you on your -ah -stuff – is what people who care about you do. It’s like telling someone when they have food stuck in their teeth. It might zing a little in the moment but it spares them greater embarrassment later on.

WILL you get back together? A better question would be SHOULD you. WHY did the relationship end? Has any of those things changed one iota? Has the past itself changed? Nope. Unless you’ve talked things through, time has passed, and trust has been re-built, it’s still a nope. Even if you wind up back together, unless something has changed, from the “should you” perspective it’s still a big no. Without those changes, what good is it for you to return to the same situation all over again?

Will you get back together? According to a one ace layout, no. Should you get back together? Still not a good idea.

Consider the Queen of Wands symbol of nurturing leadership and inner passions. How are you owning this breakup? What role did you play? What have you learned. Are you willing to lead the relationship part of your life in a new direction? Or not? What feeds and protects your inner flame: trying to rekindle a failed relationship or being on your own with a passion for the life you have (as opposed to obsessing over the life you don’t have.)

Consider the Ace of Cups. This is about emotions. Are the emotions that ended the relationship healthy or unhealthy? Are the emotions driving your desire to get back together healthy? Or, on the other hand, are emotions that make you want to never ever ever get back together the healthy ones?

Consider the Temperance card. Are you in a balanced state of mind when you ask this question? Are all parts of life in balance or is the break-up taking all of your mental and emotional resources? Are you obsessed with romance and ignoring all the other good things in life? What do you need to release to re-balance the scales? What is missing OTHER than the relationship that may be throwing things out of balance?

Zombie Cat tells it like it is. Will you get back with your ex? Nope. BUT there is a lot of good advice under that big, fat NO. Balance this loss with other happiness and other relationships, and other parts of life. Be the leader of your own inner life. Take ownership of your own emotions and our own role in the thing that happened. Be honest about your emotions.

Then the the big, fat nope might not sting quite so much.

Thank you all for reading and listening.

I appreciate you and any likes, subs, follows, shares, question or comments that you can spare.

The blog and podcast are not monetized so your spirit message comes first, not the advertisers’. Please visit the TaoCraft Tarot page on ko-fi where the shop, memberships and virtual coffees all support the creation of this (almost) daily Tarot content

Thanks again! See you at the next sip!

Get your own private Zombie Cat reading HERE (only available by email) – no appointment needed.

Confession 9: I am Zombie Cat

Transcript:

I’m a clairvoyant and I have a confession. I … am Zombie cat.

scratch/oneip

Welcome to Clairvoyant Confessional. I’m Ronda. I read Tarot, write stuff and make things. Happy Halloween season 2021.

Every Halloween as part of celebrating TaoCraft Tarot’s grand opening anniversary, I like to do something with Zombie Cat readings.

Because Halloween. And Zombies. This is Pittsburgh after all.

What is a Zombie Cat reading? I’m glad you asked!

It’s my particular spin on a classic, ubiquitous, nobody knows exactly where it came from yes or no style of Tarot reading.

Zombie Cat is a fictional character, a sort of alter ego that emerged from a blog post from 2015. The post was inspired by a combination of Schrodinger’s Cat thought experiment and the Test Tubes and Tarot decks episode of the Menage A Tarot podcast.

Don’t worry, there are links to that and all sorts of other supplementary stuff in the episode description.

Tarot readings are one thing, but the process of doing a particular layout isn’t great material for an audio podcast. So let’s get back to Zombie Cat. Why Zombie Cat?

****

Why not?

Part of the original post was instead of only dead or alive, what if BOTH was an option for Schrodinger’s experiment?

No no no….don’t go all pedantic on this and tell me that quantum states are binary and the experiment really is JUST one or the other. It’s a THOUGHT experiment. If nothing is impossible, what’s the harm in thinking about the wildly improbable? Especially since, in this case, the experiment is being applied to abstract metaphysics, not didactic ACTUAL physics.

But on second thought, maybe binary quantum physics is a better mascot for a yes or no Tarot reading than I originally intended.

Anyway, the Zombie Cat blog post mostly talks about predicting the future and how so-called accurate predictions are themselves all but impossible and not very helpful.

So OF COURSE I name the most impractical, prediction oriented, pure entertainment layout that I do after our friend, Zombie Cat.

These layouts are a ton of fun to do. I deliberately set aside all the usual caveats and complications that come with old fashioned horror movie predictions and have at it. Any question goes, all predictions will be made all in the name of entertainment all with the knowledge that these readings are 100% guaranteed to contain words but have a 50% chance of being DEAD WRONG.

The short version of how the layout works is

Step 1. Ask a question. Any question. If it isn’t a yes-or-no questions, Zombie Cat will change it into one.

Step 2. Shuffle the deck

Step 3. Deal the cards into 3 stacks, stopping a stack when it gets to an ace card or a total of 13 cards, whichever comes first Why 13 cards? I dunno. Why aces? I have no idea. That’s just how I learned it, and it works. It’s as good of a method as any and any method will do for these kinds of Halloween shenanigans.

If you get 3 aces your answer is yes, two aces showing means maybe, but leaning yes. Only one ace showing is maybe but leaning no. No aces showing is a straight up no answer.

Zombie cat will lay the answer out plain & simple, with a light touch of humor. I will warn you, ZC has a tendency to get a tiny bit snarky with these readings. But it is all intended in good fun.

*****

If I’m doing one of these as private reading for an email client, I’ll add some of the serious stuff too, like individual card meanings, additional thoughts for the non-ace cards plus any purely intuitive thoughts that come through like crystal energy or aromatherapy suggestions…just like the way I summarize all of my readings.

Zombie Cat readings are all for just for fun. I enjoy these readings in a lot of the same way I enjoyed those non branded mysterious black pool ball toys we all had as kids.

I’ll make you a deal. I’m in a Zombie Cat mood this afternoon. Send me a question either on spotify, on anchor fm voice messages, or at the contact in the show description, I’ll do a Zombie Cat style reading for your question in the next recorded episode of Clairvoyant Confessional.

Short outro.

Thank you all so much for listening! I hope you’ll stay tuned for the ALMOST daily sip of tarot nano episodes that are generated by the print blog.

The music you hear is the song dimension by the Pittsburgh band Dinosoul, all copyrights reserved, used here with permission.

I’ll talk to you the next time on Clairvoyant Confessional. Meanwhile, I’ll see you on the print side.

Long outro

https://dinosoulmusic.com/

Tips in the virtual coffee mug support the TaoCraft Tarot Blog and Clairvoyant Confessional podcast

NEW! Newsletter and monthly Tarot reading for members only: https://ko-fi.com/taocrafttarot/tiers

Last Chance for a Little While

50% off for one week only! Zombie Cat shambles away next weekend – until next time (he usually wanders through to check out the summer)

Get yours while he’s still around

Zombie Cat’s YES or NO Tarot reading by email

50% off for one week only! Get a yes or no answer to any one question. Entertainment only. All website policies and disclaimers apply.

5.00 $

Spooky Season Super Sale

Yes, yes. I used the S word.

To celebrate the one year anniversary of officially re-launching as TaoCraft Tarot (was formerly Modern Oracle Tarot) AND more importantly to celebrate all things Halloween

Zombie Cat Is Back!

Get a 3 card Tarot reading for the price of one card in the Zombie Cat yes-or-no style.

Who the heck is Zombie Cat?!

Zombie Cat is a poorly drawn cartoon cat alter ego inspired by Schrodinger’s famous thought experiment and the “Test Tubes and Tarot Decks” episode of the Menage a Tarot podcast that I did a few years ago with Dave and Kate. Read the original “Zombie Cat” post from the old Tarotbytes blog HERE.

Order your reading with the secure PayPal button on the home page. For fastest service, send an email or use the “contact merchant” option at check out to send your question for Zombie Cat. If it isn’t a yes-or-no question we’ll change it into one.

Zombie Cat’s readings are 100% guaranteed to contain words, and have at least a 50% chance of being dead wrong.

Buyer beware. After all ZOMBIE is right there in his name.

Ask Zombie Cat: Calm will come…eventually.

“Zombie Cat” yes/no layouts like this one are only available seasonally and only available in the email format. Look for Zombie Cat’s Summer Shamble starting June 1, 2024 ($10 for members, $15 for non-members)

Witches Tarot art by Mark Evans used with permission llwellynpublishing.com

Q: I’ve been going through a lot lately. Things are changing fast and I’ve been learning so many things the hard way. Are things ever going to calm down?

A: Maybe but leaning yes.

My hunch is that it is actually more yes than maybe, but with the downside that it won’t kick in for a few more months yet. In my minds eye I see the dogs howling at the moon that you see on some many Moon cards. For some reason that says “dog days of summer” to me. Maybe this is pure projection on my part, because this time of year with the sun, heat and humidity makes my fur more gnarly than usual. It feels like the current energy pattern is going to hang around at least as long as the hot weather. “Things will turn with the weather, bluer skies and sweaters.” Knowing where you are, I’m remembering painting outside on a 80 degree November not so long ago. I’m thinking don’t hold your breath for any real relief until a serious, growing season ending, killing frost. Sort of a big harvest moon, October–December vibe. That would go along with the 4 of Wands, which is about foundations, and community celebrations.

The 4 of Wands also speaks to the new place to live. Yes, it will become foundational, in time. I ‘hear’ “make a house a home” plus something about grounding or earth…this is gonna sound more nuts than usual. I don’t know what the issues are around the new address, but it feels like the energy there needs both cleared and grounded, swept of a lingering funk that pre-dates you and rooted and grounded … settled if you will… on an energy level to make a way for more literal grounding and calming to manifest. This is weird, purely intuitive, and has no basis in science or tradition that I know of on a conscious level. I get the image of sprinkling a 50/50 mixture of salt and diatomacious earth….literally just by pinches at a time…along the baseboards, along the perimeter walls of the house. Don’t worry about inner walls, or specific rooms, just the walls that join the outside. No need to make a big mess, just a ceremonial line using little pinches and clear intention. Sage and smuding are too airy and ethereal. This calls for a tangible bam of something.

The Ace of Swords is associated with air. This feels a little more cautioning than reassuring / advising like the 4 of wands was. Swords and air have to do with intellect. Don’t overthink during this upcoming season, now through the end of the year in any case. This also would go along with the literal grounding / clearing house thing, as being needed to balance the airy creative energy.

The Ace of Swords also reminds me of something you said when we were talking about which deck you’d like to use for this. You were talking about being more “ethereal….like a good spiritual student” with the other deck, but went with this one because it was “bubbling up inside.” I warrant that listening to the stuff that bubbles up inside IS what it means to be a good spiritual student. It is easy to equate spirituality with ethereal, good with serene and so on. This card, this part of the yes/no reminds me of what we were saying yesterday, if it seems like life is beating on you…it is. And that is ok. It first of all is probably because Life knows you are badass enough to deal with it, and second of all, chaos and pains in the ass are just as spiritual as rainbows and unicorns. Remember that article you sent, and that Alan Watts quote? “You are a function of what the whole universe is doing just like a wave is a function of what the whole ocean is doing.”

In other words, don’t sweat it, you GOT this. The ocean of life, love and spirituality touch the great white shark the same as the angelfish. Rest will come in its time. Meanwhile, enjoy the swim. You wouldn’t be in the deep end if you couldn’t handle it. This is a chance to discover your inner orca, have a glass of wine, watch Shark Week on TV….that kind of thing. Recharge? Sure. You eat stress for breakfast. You got this.

The Ace of Wands continues in that vein with a more inward turn. Knowing that spirituality takes all forms, so does self-care. Like the human has said before about this card….carry a torch for yourself. Accept your passions and desires, strengths and weakness for what they are…both your increadable resiliancy and your sincere desire for a day off. Need a break? Take it! With gusto and passion! Tell it all to leave a message, and take a spa day. Which I guess takes us back to wine and shark week, but you get the idea. Let your passions shine, even if it is a passion for kicking things to the curb and carving out the peace and quiet you want. Want peace and quiet with burning passion! Or something like that.

So YES things will settle, but that process can be helped along. You have been answered “the hard way” because you can handle it. Rest hasn’t come yet because you still have a bit more to do. It may not feel like it, but you can keep on keeping on. Plus maybe this is a time to explore the gritty, gnarly, not–so-ethereal side of spirituality. Don’t ask me why, but Sam Elliot style movie characters come to mind…the grizzled antihero, Deadpool kind of thing. Not saying that you are that way, just that might be a good mental cosplay, a way to find a way to have a little fun with the chaos until the rest really does come, which it will, but later. Kind of like when the human let’s me come out and play and unleash a little Zombie snark on the world. It’s all just in good fun to get you through until that change in the literal and energetic weather.

Braaaiiiiinns!

Zombie Cat