Neither science nor spirituality is of any use to a closed mind. That which does not change is dead.
Being mercurial, shallow and capricious is of equally little use.
The middle way is, as is most often the case, the best option. Be open to new ideas, but evaluate them before taking them to heart. Question everything, but if something stands up to that questioning, allow it to win credence. Belief can, must, change in the face of facts.
Shakespeare wrote that “Cowards die many times before their deaths, but the valiant taste of death but once.” The same is true of those willing to adapt, to change, to consider new ideas and new ways of doing things. To ossify the mind is to allow the spirit to die young.
“Everything in this book might be wrong.” – Richard Bach
“Today’s Tarot” is a series of one card daily meditation style Tarot readings. blog posts (and youtube shorts) One card meditations are a great way to learn the cards and to build a relationship with Tarot as a a way to enrich your quality of life.
One card readings are also perfect for a very narrow, focused look at a single, well-known topic. It is a good for a quick follow up on how things are going after a bigger reading.
If you order a $5 one card meditation by email, it will be longer, more personalized, and much more focused just on your individual energy instead of reading the general cultural energy environment, like blog post and YouTube readings tend to do.
Stay tuned for an example of a personalized one-card meditation reading. Please follow the blog so all new posts come right to your inbox – that way you won’t miss a thing.
Today, the Ace of Swords reminds us to use our dang heads.
Swords often denote action. They are also associated with the element air, and with mind and intellect. If we look at the suits in terms of how they relate you to your life in general, swords are your relationship with society, culture, rules and authority. The authority part steps forward here…your authority and the decisions you make for yourself in life in particular.
The energy today calls for incisive intellect. Decide based on facts and data more than emotion. “Work the problem” as they said in the Apollo 13 movie. Work through things through step by step, deliberately, logically. Thankfully, no one is stranded in outer space, so it may help to slow down as much as possible to help that happen.
Interested in a Tarot reading, but not sure if distance is right for you? It can hold all the same magic and insight of a live reading, especially if you are a book lover like me.
TaoCraft Tarot by email is a reader’s reading.
A customized, individualized one card meditation is an affordable way to sample the style. Order yours HERE.
“You reap what you sow” is both the threat of consequences for the bad choices you make and the promise of the good things you give coming back to you. Sometimes you have to stop, lean on your garden hoe, squint and stare at things a bit to figure out which is which.
“To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.” – Nicolaus Copernicus
“And I know what I know girl. But I don’t know what I know when I know it” – The Kongos
Deja Vu. Have we just had this card and this energy recently? There is something out there, in the general zeitgeist energies that is a bit of a flashback replay.
I try to be vigilant about blaming my own issues or emotions on energy, spirit, or any of this psychic intuitive thing…true enough, this could be my annual ‘I don’t like August’ funk, but the volume is turned up higher than usual. I’m not sure what or why, but there is some abstract something that feels like March 2020. Yes, I have my own stuff that probably accounts for a big part of it, and no, I’m not going to share any of it here because I’m very protective of everyone’s privacy, but still, there is some something in the ethers that’s ringing the old intuitive-sensitive bell too.
Has anyone else noticed anything like that or is it just my need for another cup of coffee and a nap? Seriously. Comments and email are open.
For whatever reason, this card and its energy today seems all too familiar.
There were a few ideas so equal, it was hard to pick one for the video caption. First there is the boilerplate “it all depends on your perspective” idea. Think about the view from the standing person’s perspective vs the seated person’s perspective on the card. The standing person can see the way ahead is actually clear and can see the landscape fully for what it really is. If the seated person sees anything of the landscape or the water, it is through sharp edges, gaps in a wall of swords.It is very much reminescent of that Obiwan line from Star Wars about what he told Luke being true “from a certain point of view.” or the parable of the blind men and the elephant. Small shifts in perspective can create big changes in feeling and understanding.
Equal with the idea of perspective, the energy idea of obstacles steps forward. Funny thing, obstacles. Seems like you will either crash into them, crash through them, or figure a way around them. If an obstacle is perpetually floating just in front of you, like swords stuck in the canoe you are riding in, is it really an obstacle at all?
One of my absolute favorite lines from any series ever was in Stranger Things when Sheriff Hopper said that “mornings are for coffee and contemplation.”
*raises mug of dark roast to THAT idea*
The Four of Cups has that sort of feel to it. Cups cards reflect close circle relationships. You can’t get any closer to you than you. Tarot is first and foremost an art form of personal development and personal internal spiritual practice. All that crime drama horror movie predict the future fix your love life nonsense is exactly that. Unsurprisingly, all of the cards have some aspect, even a minor one, that can help us to engage with life in a more satisfying way. You know, like the “personal enrichment” use in the small print disclaimer.
When I say satisfying I mean satisfying like a hot cuppa coffee on a day that starts just a little too early.
The Four of Cups has been read to mean all sorts of things: dissatisfaction, (look at the guy’s pouting toddler body language on the card) moping, abiding, meditation, abiding with emotional pain, thoughts or activity below the surface, serenity, meditation, contemplation.
The idea that steps most forward to my mind is the meditation and contemplation one.
I ‘hear’ (meaning that the intuition comes as mental words instead of mental images, so no, when I say that I’m not hearing things for goodness’ sake) – but “meet your meditation where it lives.”
And I do mean meditation.
For some a long run is meditative. Knitting is meditative. Braiding bullwhips is meditative. For others it is the classic cushin sitting zazen TM meditation style. As I understand it, there is a lot of overlap between zen, ch’an, taoist and transcendental meditation styles and it seems that everyone who tries it, loves it. Meditation is a pleasure. If not, I suspect you’ve been told something if not wrong, at least unhelpful.
But anyway, the point is you can sit under any tree to meditate. You don’t have to sit under a tree at all. Meditating is easy. Finding where and how it naturally, easily fits into your life is a good first step.
Even if your first meditative step of the day is contemplating a good mug of coffee.
Of the different meanings for the Two of Swords, “of two minds” comes to mind. A lot of times when we think of that, it means that two options are equal, and there is no obvious, logical, good way to decide between the two. There is six of one and half dozen of the other as they saying goes.
So what do you do when you are of two minds and both options are equal: equally bad that is? What do you do when you don’t know what to do at all? What do you do when you are of two minds and neither one of them knows what to do?
It’s ok not to know. It’s ok for some things to be unknowable. And it’s ok to try and find out. If you don’t know, ask. If you don’t know, learn. If you don’t know, welcome to the universe. It is like that sometimes. We haven’t figured it all out, and that’s OK too.
“I’d rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned.”
Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 