#taocraft-tarot — Public Fediverse posts

Action Eases Anxiety: Peaceful Boundaries

Our first card hints at the current energy environment:

This feels like a reckoning of heart and mind. Sometimes logic isn’t quite enough. Anxiety that comes without cause isn’t to be disregarded. Guard your energy, guard your emotional and energy boundaries. The water behind the figure can be placid and peaceful, but tonight it feels like shimmering agitation, like water showing sound waves or vibrations (think the glass of water in the jeep in the movie Jurassic Park) That simmering anxiety just below the surface needs your attention. Like the three of swords that follows, there is a sense of being on guard against very negative people who leave a trail of pessimism, judgementalism, anger or what have you in their wake. Even if it isn’t directed at you, take care of yourself as if it were. Reiki, incense, music, tourmaline, meditation, good sleep, nourishing food….whatever strengthens your protective energies, don’t hesitate to reach for whatever clears and settles and grounds you.

I ‘hear’ “nervous system reset”. Reach for what soothes you, worry about the cause later when your head is clearer.

The second card hints something to do that will ease the anxious feelings:

The six of wands has turned up in a few different readings lately. It gives the same message each time, “protect your peace.”

This feels like a large, collective energy message. So much…it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Actively protecting our energy and peace of mind.

Here the sense of everything cycles through all the advice of the first card, reinforcing it as well as giving the notion of reinforcing your own energy boundaries.

I am also reminded of study that postulated that the neurochemicals of strong emotions can clear as quickly as 90 seconds* It is the same as the well known adage of take a deep breath and count to ten before responding to anger. Whatever the emotion, regardless of cause, it isn’t going to last forever. It will pass. There will be peace after conflict, balance after upset as is the classic meaning for the Six of Wands.

Hang in there. Don’t ignore the emotion just because it doesn’t have a clear cause. Soothe, center, ground: let the neurochemicals clear. Protect your peace. It will return.

New Home

https://youtu.be/ZBaSffujNC0?si=at6OlSBc1SoqPaCN

Phenomenal courage. Raw power. Inevitable, undeniable strength and beauty.

Today is National Coming Out day. The energy today is layered. I don’t sense anything global or too soft or esoteric today. The national energy is too loud. There is this bottom tarry layer thick with fear and anger over national politics, the cost of living, the impending election and feeling terrorized by growing christofascists making things progressively worse.

For anyone to come out, or even to take baby steps along a path of coming out, in this energy climate is mind-blowing.

Compassion and authenticity are our most powerful allies in these times.

Last night’s Daylight/Twilight card asked us to consider our strengths and superpowers. Today’s layout suggests that compassionate authenticity is our superpower for these times.

After 50+ years of gradual, strategic manipulation and takeover the right-wing Republicans and Christian evangelicals have shown us who they truly are. People have literally been shot in the street by masked government sanctions SS-like goons and they are planning a live stream execution. The layer fear and anxiety is almost palpable. It makes intuitive work -um- challenging to say the least. All applause to all of the energy sensitive people out there holding it all together over the next few weeks.

Over top of the layer of maga-sludge I sense I lighter layer, a hopeful layer, it looks like shimmering lines, like heat rising from a summer roadway. That is the alliance of compassion and authenticity. It hums with the strength and power of people being their true, unabashed self while at the very same time being compassionate toward all of the other unabashedly authentic people around them.

Together, that alliance of authenticity and compassion looks like a force field, containing those whose true authentic selves have proven to be hateful, bigoted, racist and worse.

Drawing three cards as a simple pathway reading for this week:

The 8 of cups, the influence of the past, talks about abandoning the toxic, walking away from that which no longer serves any compassionate or useful purpose.

The King of Wands, the current energy, speaks of honoring yourself, take command and leadership of your inner world. The outer world my force you to make certain choices for your safety and inner peace at times, but they can never rob you of your true self unless you surrender it. If you have to make tough choices, honor them and your courage to make make them. But never forget you can choose differently as circumstances change. The castle doesn’t have to change on the inside no matter whether it flies the King’s colors on the outside or not.

The 10 of cups shows the direction we are headed. I ‘hear’ “found family is your home now”

The people you love and trust and the home you create for yourself is your true home.

Those of us who can and have done that must be the force-field for the young ones who can not. It is essential that we all are the safe space for those coming out to come out in to.

We all must make out a safe and good place to be.

We all must keep a lid on the evil sludge and create a shimmering zone of safety.

If it takes political speech and massive voter turn out to do that, so be it.

No matter what lies on the other side of coming out, no matter what lies on the other side of this coming election, compassion and authenticity remain our assets and allies that will allow us to create that space where all of good will are welcome.

Look: Card for the Week

https://youtu.be/OeVGJF8NP18?si=XYNOmdl1kjDA0lH7

If someone yells “LOOK!” that one word tells you that something need your attention right now.

Day, week, month or year; regardless of the time frame you have in mind, a one card “meditation” reading functions like a loud “LOOK!” It doesn’t predict what will actually happen in that time, but it does tell you to look.

It tells you the current energy, let’s you look at the energy environment is at the moment.

Within that environment it can steer you in the direction of something important. It might validate something you already know, or it can draw your attention to something you hadn’t noticed. Whatever the case may be it is useable information. It is a helpful idea.

Over time, I’m less happy with calling these “daily meditation tarot” like I did in PeaceTarot. Names can be powerful, magickal things. Renaming Modern Oracle and Tarotbytes to TaoCraft Tarot and Sage Sips was, as Storm Faerywolf describes in The Witch’s Name, both descriptive and aspirational. Naming things empowers who/what they are as well supporting all that is wished to be.

I forget where I read it, so I don’t know if it is accurate, but there are cultures and traditions where names change to reflect different accomplishments, or stages of life. Frank Herbert describes something akin to this in Dune when Paul chooses his public Fremen name but is given a private tribal-only name. Changing the website and blog name, I believe, elevated my Tarot readings. I feel it is time to re-name, revive, and re-empower these one card readings.

On one hand, it makes no real difference in the grand scheme of things what I name something on my website and ko-fi shop. On the other hand, we all know that energy and intention makes a difference or we wouldn’t be here.

“LOOK” is a pretty vision centric word, but it can also be a conceptional, point of view thing, like outlook (the actual noun, not the computer program.)

Intuition isn’t only visual. It can spark any sense…there can be words, music, smells, tastes, physical sensations that can intuitively come to mind just as much as visual mental images. For that reason I kind of like the word “spark” You can see them. Sometimes you can hear them (like a fireswork sparkler or firestarting flint being struck) Sparks can, in the right conditions, start something bigger. Sparks and kindling might be a better mental model for this: Action eases anxiety after all.

But while I mull over the new name, look at what the enrgies have for us today

This is not an expansive, yang time. This is, true to the local season, a time of increasing yin. Autumn is a time of darkening days, cooling temperatures. a time of coming to center and appreciating the harvest. It is a time to nurture home and hearth, not to expand and adventure.

That is the part of life that is asking us to look at it, think about it, act on it. This is the spark for our thinking and doing this week. This is the spark in the dark to help us look and move in a good direction.

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See you at the next sip!

Sitting With Nothing

Often this card reminds me of the famous Japanese proverb “Fall down seven times, stand up eight.”

That is the short answer to the core message of the Ten of Swords: What do you do when things go wrong. What do you do when you are face down in defeat?

It said STAND. Not leap up. Not bounce back. Not return to the same battle. STAND includes dragging yourself up after taking time to figure out how to get back on your feet. STAND includes limping off in another direction to do something entirely different.

Today’s card also reminds me of something author Chuck Wendig said on social media during the era of his book You Can Do Anything Magic Skeleton. I remember it as having this Tarot image and the advice that when life has you face down on the floor, look under the sofa for those keys you lost last week – or something like that.

If there is a theme song for this card, it’s Chumbawamba’s Tubthumping “I get knocked down. But I get up again. You’re never gonna keep me down.”

Getting up is the important part. This doesn’t say anything about when or how you stand up again.

It’s ok not to be ok. You don’t have to leap up and be happy about what just happened.

Here I am also reminded of a photo of Sidney Crosby just sitting on the ice, exhausted and dejected after a Stanley Cup loss. He was the picture of defeat kind of like our Ten of Swords dude. He wasn’t all spitfire and overjoyed after he stood up from the ice. But he did stand up, keep playing, won more Stanley Cups and is a record setting athlete. To put it mildly.

The important thing isn’t about when or how you stand up again. The important thing is that you do – eventually – stand up again. Sometimes when you have nothing left in the tank, you just sit with the nothing. Sometimes when you feel depressed, then you just by damn be depressed for a while. When you are laying face down on the floor with metaphoric knives in your back, the best thing to do is stay down there and look under the sofa for your car keys.

Feel the feels. Sit with the nothing. Do what you need to do to get ready to stand up again. You are allowed to move slow, hold on to something and make old man noises while you do.

Thanks for reading! See you at the next sip!

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Improve Your Groove

From the archives, September 1, 2019

I love it when people talk in T-shirts.

My husband is a drummer. This morning we were watching and interview / demo video on with Stanton Moore, the drummer for Galactic. If you like music and/or drums even a teensy bit, and you don’t know Stanton Moore or Galactic, run don’t walk YouTube or his website or where ever  you listen to music and check it out. It may not be your taste in music, but it is worth a listen just for the sheer skill and musicality of it all. At the moment, my personal favorite is “Ha di ka” from the album Carnivale Electricos because it totally reminds me of The Magician card from the Black Cat Tarot.

But that’s another story.

In the middle of all the music stuff he said that you can always “improve your groove” which would make a pretty good t-shirt, I think.

He’s talking about a music groove and learning / improving your skill as a drummer, but to me the non-musician, it invokes the notion of dynamic balance, comfort, ease, being “in a rhythm,” a sort of wu wei  state of mind. You know, just rolling with things as they come and it’s all good.

So how do you improve on that? Why would you want to? After all it is OK for everything to be OK, at least every now and then.

Acknowledging the groove improves it.

There is a vaguely toxic version of gratitude floating around out there. I had a client one time that was going to be grateful goddammit until she got the romance she wanted. She had heard that gratitude brings the things that you want, and was essential to the spiritual Law of Attraction. Being grateful for what you have brings you what you want. Valid point – sort of. I had to wonder how grateful she really, genuinely FELT if she was as miserably laser focused on her current loneliness and that new relationship as she said.

Scott Cunningham wrote that “the feeling is the power.” Empty gratitude as an exercise to gain something can’t feel all that terrific. The magick happens when you feel the gratitude for the stuff that is right here, right now. When that happens, the gratitude brings you a wealth of good things that were right there under your nose, perhaps unacknowledged.

Gratitude is a comfortable groove. It is not some ecstasy, not something you can force or do as a means to an end. If you aren’t grateful now – OK. If things are bad – OK. Acknowledge that realistically too. You have to understand how things actually are before you can improve them, right? Gratitude can come in the form looking around and feeling that things aren’t so bad after all. As I type that, I “hear” (which is how I describe intuition that comes as sounds, words or music instead of mental images) a song by Esperanto reggae artist Jonny M, “Malacxa” which means “not awful” or “not bad”

The Magician, all songs aside, is a good card for the concept. The process of finding a groove, being in it, acknowledging it, improving it, can work a sort of magic. Gratitude CAN attract good things, but not by doing it come hell or high water to get some specific thing. The groove magic comes when you appreciate and improve the groove you are already in more than you throw your mind and energy at something that is not in your groove right now at all.

https://youtu.be/l46bRGTlbWM?si=VRwgJl5inu-5gs4p

Deck: Black Cats Tarot by Maria Kurara copyright 2013 all rights reserved, used with permission via llwellynpublishing.com

Q&A: Vibe Check

https://youtu.be/AOqdc3vFlqI?si=sMIW08jKqVjxdDXJ

Q: I keep getting this feeling that something is wrong, but I can’t figure out what. It reminds me of how I felt right before the pandemic hit. Does this mean something terrible is going to happen again?

A: I dunno. Maybe

You’ve heard/read my rant about how I can’t predict the future and neither can bits of cardboard with pictures on them a dozen different times….

At the same time, I hear you.

Depending on your political point of view, arguably something terrible IS happening. Multiple things. Really bad things.

That alone is enough to give anyone the creeps and make you feel like everything is just …. off.

The card is the Wheel. Some decks call it the Wheel of Fortune. If you look at it through an old school, predictive lens it gets very fatalistic, hopeless, victim of circumstance-y very quickly. I think the real message here is CHANGE.

Today’s card is drawing a little from the Moon card (natural cycles) and a little from the Death card (big permanent changes) but the emphasis is on change.

You are allowed to be in a bad mood. You are allowed to be tired, or worried or uncomfortable – regardless of whether you have a reason or a cause or not.

No, you shouldn’t write it off. Your instincts might be trying to tell you something. Inexplicable fears and worries might be our intuition giving us the heads up that we missed something. Use this as a cue to take another look, see if you can find a reason for this feeling that you missed before.

Writing off these feelings of unease or trying to get rid of it might not be the best idea, but neither do you have to live with it forever.

Some of my favorite second-look, figure out this weirdness strategies are very simple.

Probably the least fun one is to just let it happen. I forget who said it (Dan Harris quoting someone else maybe??) but as a general rule of thumb, emotions are very short-lived. Like 90 seconds short. That seems a bit rapid – fire to me. An emotional funk can haunt you for hours, or off and on for a day or two at the very longest. But normally, it is time limited thing. Let it come, let it go, learn from it, this too will pass. Remembering it is temporary is sometimes all it takes to turn down the intensity of worry.

One the most useful things is to make a plan for whatever is worrying you. We are living through the enshittification of life as we knew it, and it is impossible to plan in the middle of chaos, but any little bit helps. Decide what you want for lunch tomorrow. Check in with a friend, ask a family member how they are doing…anything. The Buddhists got that one right – action (and action plans) really do ease anxiety.

You mentioned COVID…

I think that’s your answer. NOT that another pandemic is coming, but remember when we talked about resonance? Remember how we said energy sensitive people can vibe so strongly with the energy environment that it feels like the fear and worry is their own and not a by-product of the energy soup we swim in every day? Just like pollen can get in your hair from just walking around outside, you can stuck energy muck too.

One of the things this feeling of unease is asking to figure out is whether the source is you, or your resonance.

Try this.

Sit cross -legged on the floor or if you are in a chair, cross your ankles. Then lace your fingers together. This seals and strengthens your individual energy on a grounded, physical level.

Now, lets bring imagination online to help your mental and emotional energies a little. Imagine you are sitting in the middle of a force field or a clear crystal ball. Get comfy in your mental hamster ball of invincibility. If it helps, decorate that mental space with things that usually make you feel happy and empowered – put symbols on the sphere, see a mug of coffee beside you, play heavy metal music – whatever you like.

Now, with that posture and those images mentally in place….what does that do to the feelings of dread and worry? Are they still there or are you pleasantly surprised to learn “HEY! IT’S ACTUALLY HAPPY IN HERE!!”

If this mental & emotional shielding exercise dials that worrisome feeling WAY down, chances are it is a function of resonance. Take a hot shower, or whatever other grounding, centering, clearing things that you like to do. My hunch is that a nice long shower with a clear-your-energy intention might just do the trick.

If the worry is coming from inside the force field, if it is inside the house so to speak…then it is back to understanding an action-planning. THAT is when an ‘action eases anxiety’ tarot layout might help.

Either way, no, this doesn’t mean something terrible is about to happen. Yes, it does mean your emotions are asking you for some attention and vibe check.

Take good care of yourself.

Thanks!

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Weekend Oracle: Apart

https://youtu.be/sKUSz7raBbE?si=d2UW-WVyYVDZFco8

Even when you are apart from people, you are a part of people.

The southern hemisphere may be gearing up to rock and roll into spring, but here in the northern hemisphere, we are in fullest summer. Mid-August is hot, humid, filled with the sound of cicadas and with a sluggish energy. As it should be. It isn’t the season of planting, it isn’t quite yet the season of full harvest – even for us city dwellers.

It’s a time of maximum yang that is asking to be met with much yin.

This weekend is a time for introverts. The advice is to be gentle with yourself and your energy. Don’t force socialization if you aren’t feeling it. Don’t push or strive or emotionally expert if you aren’t feeling it. It is ok to spend some time at the edges of the action.

The energy of the Outsider card from Seven Dane Asmund’s Alleyway Oracle of Secrets deck reminds us that outsiders are different from outcasts – some choose the perifory as a way to protect their peace or nurture their healing and growth.

For those who find themselves feeling cut off or more alone than they want to be, the energy here is a reminder that we are all connected, even when other people seem physically or emotionally far away.

If you are feeling isolated or lonely, open your circle of perspective. You may be alone in your room, but you are still a part of the family in your house or the residents of your apartment building. You might be the only person in the building, but you are still part of your state, country or continent. You might be the only person on the moon…but you are still a member of the human species and that can never be taken from you.

“We are all connected: To each other, biologically. To Earth, chemically. To the rest of the universe, atomically.”

Neil Degrasse Tyson

If you need to dial back, and have some alone time it is OK. You aren’t severing connections, you are nurturing your heart and spirit and self which makes the connections stronger, better – over any distance.

Wishing you a lovely weekend that is just as busy – or not – as you like.

Modern Art!!

https://youtube.com/shorts/43_yHbx6NYs?feature=share

Energy path layout: Fading emerges, current energies, growing energies

Modern art!

Just for a fun comfort watch, we’ve be re-watching the Peter Capaldi seasons of Doctor Who. When Matt Smith left and Peter Capaldi came into the role, I wasn’t sure what to think as is the case for most Doctor Who fans when regeneration time comes around. Then they showed the old “Fires of Pompeii” episode where Capaldi had played the role of Caecilius the marble merchant. When toga-clad Capaldi raised his arms in a BEHOLD gesture and declared the Tardis to be “MODERN ART!” I’m like ok, ok…he can be the Doctor now.

If Tom Baker was the Doctor you wanted to be your dad, David Tennant was the Doctor you wanted to be your friend, and Matt Smith was the Doctors you wanted to be in your family, then Peter Capaldi was the Doctor I wanted to BE.

https://youtu.be/GMkpArZ-Cnk

Why is my Whovian fan-girl side bringing up this obscure Doctor Who reference? Because Caecilius’ enthusiasm is exactly the vibe for this week’s reading.

When the world is on fire, sometimes you have to indulge in something you enjoy just to support your own sanity. Extra credit if it is something easy, simple and close at hand, like watching a favorite TV show or allowing yourself an extra scoop of ice cream. Or a beer. Or six. Or eating an entire cake with a spoon. Double extra bonus points if you have a sense of humor about it. Why not express yourself in the quirkiest, happiest most playful way that you can?

This is a week for passionate artists and creatives. It’s giving me itchy knitting fingers. Wait until you see this new hat pattern.

The fading energy card feels like early week energy. There is a ‘ get while the getting is good’ vibe about it. If you are feeling inspired, act sooner rather than later. This is the knight of cups after all. Knight cards are all about action. Cups are emotions. Grab the chance to express yourself and how you feel as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Don’t wait to appreciate your modern art!

The current energy card feels attached to the later part of the week. Sword cards are more precise and intellectual than cups, but they too can hint at action. Swords are connected to the classic element air, and the single upright sword on the ace card has a sweeping, lifting, rising energy. The word INSPIRATION comes strongly to mind here. If you have been in a creative slump, or feeling uninspired in any context, keep your eyes open and be ready, that may turn around soon. Inspiration is on the way, it seems.

For those of us who have had to focus on practical, mundane day-job energies, the ace feels more like getting a second wind. It is a hint of revitalizing an old project rather than beginning something new. Which energy carries the week for you depends on where you are starting out today (Merry Monday everyone!) If you are coming into the week fresh after the weekend, then fresh starts ahead. If, like me, you have a weekend work schedule hang in there. A fresh gust of wind beneath your wings is on the way.

The Chariot from the major arcana is the card representing growing energies. This also gives the impression of movement and flow through the week as a whole. The mental image here is of waves on a lake, as opposed to heavy surf on an ocean beach. This feels like movement and self expression, but gentle forward movement instead of a tidal wave.

There is absolutely no logical reason why, but clear quartz points and herkimer diamonds come to mind too. Lore around clear quartz is that it is an energy amplifier. Quartz points, especially tourmalated quartz (clear with small spiky inclusions of black tourmaline) are thought to support guidance (the spikes and points symbolize something ‘pointing the way’ for us.)

The keys for the week are self expression, creativity, art, increasing energy, and gentle forward progress.

So go, make life into your own work of modern art.

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Today’s Tarot: Clarity (Q&A)

https://youtu.be/A7InMa2oCjQ?si=tKeE68AJXtOKi3v1

Q: What do we most need to know right now in the United States following Lindsey Graham’s death and conjecture about Mitch McConnell’s.

I drew this card with this question in mind, right after seeing a social media post from someone who I typically has good points and real food for thought. This may well be the first time I’ve disagreed with him.

But no, this isn’t a time for tut-tutting about “speaking ill of the dead” from either side of the political divide. Graham was not a good person who, because of his political power, inflicted real harm on real people and contributed much to the rise of fascism and white christian nationalism in America today.

I’m sorry for the loss of any kind person who feels his – or their – passing. But at the same time it is fair to think they are lying in the bed they made during their lifetime.

The social media person clucked something on the order “saying these things says more about you as a person than it does about them.

Not this time.

If making fun of a powerful bad man says something about the person saying it….what does a powerful man’s silence about the death of school girls at the hands of unnecessary war, the death of women at the hands of politically and religiously motivated abortion bans, the death of schoolchildren at the hands of our lack of gun control….and on and on and on. What does silence about these dead say about THEM? I’d rather people make merciless fun of the politicians who caused harm than remain silent in the face of the harm they caused.

It’s more important to be kind to everyone living than to worry about what is said about the dead.

Laughter is good medicine. Public figures who caused real harm aren’t going to be any less dead if we only say nice things about them after they’ve been rendered harmless by the inevitable. Momento Mori.

In the noise of current events, the Ace of swords reminds us to cut to the chase, get to the point, simplify. Tune out the static and get right down to what really matters. In the end, kindness is the only measure of what that is.

Pathway

This is an actual Tarot reading I did a couple of years ago. As you can see, the recipient kindly gave me permission to use it here in the blog. This is the kind reading you’ll get if you support Sage Sips on ko-fi now.

Reading from The archives: Use the search bar to find Tarot readings, Q&A, BTS and more.

Q: You drew a card for me on Halloween which was (and still is!) really meaningful, so lovely to connect with you again. I saw your Instagram post and would love to have you pull a few cards for me if the places haven’t been filled, but no worries if not! Happy to have a reading via the blog 🙂 

For ******

First of all, thank you so much for your kind words!

I’m always so happy to hear when a reading is helpful….after all, that’s why we do these things! But the same is true as the last reading: If you have any questions, complaints or need any clarification with the reading please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Since you didn’t specify a topic, I’ll just move ahead with an open-to-anything point of view.

Your Cards Today Are:

• Influence from the Past: King of Coins (Pentacles)
• Current Situation: Three of Swords
• Moving Forward: King of Swords

General Pattern

All cards are minor arcana, which in a layout this small is no real statistical surprise. Intuitively it feels like a bit of reassurance, that nothing really major is stirring the energies for you right now. It is all pretty business as usual more than it’s not. It has a feeling that business as usual for you entails being really good at what you do. Business as usual is kicking butt and taking names from the feel of it. In that vein, it feels like a very plain-talking, no nonsense kind of reading. It also feels like most of the reading energy is pointing toward work and career thoughts, which would go right along with having a coins card right off the bat like that. The repetitions are asking for attention. You have two swords, which connote action, the element of air, intellect and logic, authority, or your connection with society and culture at large. Knit all of that together and my attention is pulled to using cold, calculating intellect when it comes to work, especially when dealing with the authority structure, or any vying for promotions or power within the structure of the workplace. “Power Play” comes to mind along with an old episode of M*A*S*H where the Colonel accuses someone (Frank? Hotlips? Klinger?) of “going over my head so many times I’m getting athletes scalp” I guess the shorthand for that would be watch out for power playing brown nosers at work. The other repetition is the two kings. Kings connote leadership. It feels like the situation may be asking you for leadership, confidence, self-starting, standing up for yourself….even if you are already good at that, it feels like the skills you have will be put through their paces, and you may even be pushed a tiny bit outside your comfort zone in that respect. I ‘hear’ (meaning the intuition comes as words instead of feelings or images) to “Hang on and be brave” There was a great meme about spirit guides (the lady) you (the boy) and a life lesson. Here is the photo part if you want to take a peek: https://goo.gl/images/gdXriU Your guides feel like they are reminding you they won’t lead you anywhere you are not ready to go, but since you are ready…buckle up baby!

Background & Context: King of Coins

This part is the reminder of competence you have, and that you are more than ready to meet leadership challenges at work, or any other part of life, really. The King of Coins as a card connotes wealth and success, so a note of reassurance there again. I hear “build on past skills and successes” I’m not clear whether that means use your skills and knowledge that you have in hand to fullest advantage, to build new skill and expand your knowledge and experience…or both. It doesn’t feel like a job change as much as an expansion of the current situation.

Current Situation: Three of Swords

Classically, this tends to be a bit darker, more dire card across all of the decks and references that I have. Often it will set me off on maternal lecture mode about be safe, keys out, park under lights, and all that usual lecture….but not so much for you today. This feels more petty than malicious. It isn’t the devil or dark side card for good reason. This feels petty, and small, and contained to one aspect of life, like office politics. “Watch out for petty backstabbers” comes to mind. Very office politics, but also heavy on the petty….like an annoying mosquito that can drive you mad if you let it, or just brush it away. The more calm, detached, intellectual and swords / mental-focus the better.

Moving Forward: King of Swords

You know how I read cards…the cards have suit, element, layout position, and general card meaning. But each card, based on all that other stuff, can have a different spin or ‘flavor’ of message; advice (something to consider doing) caution (something to consider avoiding) or validation (acknowledgement, encouragement, cosmic thank you) There has been a lot of validation energy so far. This has a little more of an advice spin. The card feels less like it pertains to you and more like it represents an ally…someone in the hierarchy at work who you can cultivate an working relationship with, who can be a mentor of sorts. “Have your back” comes to mind. Like someone who knows your skills, sees your potential. It feels like it might be literally a male figure of some sort. Does any of this ring a bell for you? I’m not sure how else to understand the card, because it has a not-you but someone who can help you sort of symbolism around it. Beyond that it is dark – meaning no signal, not evil or bad kind of dark. It feels like that is the card or energy telling me that is a singular message from this card….seek out a mentor or ally at work.

Summary

This part is like a psychic “cold reading” where I free form give you any impressions that come to mind. In readings that have a topic or question, this part might connect to that or the cards….or it might not. In an open reading like this one, it just stays in the open frame of mind.

Often it starts with colors, or crystals or both. In this case I see citrine. It associates with the solar plexus chakra, and therefor confidence. Wear or carry it for confidence at work. It also resonates with the King cards, and the coins suit because the golden color has to do with wealth, career, luck and to some extent leadership.

I taste butterscotch, with lemon scent in the background. That might be a continuation of the golden color associations. Butterscotch may symbolize comfort, while lemon in aromatherapy is very cleansing and energizing. Lemon may be important relevant to work, as diffusing some lemon fragrance, lighting a lemon scented candle, or using anything lemon after work might do two things…first it would be a clear transition signal. It could remind you work is done, clear any annoyances or negativity from your day, and let you know to shift into family/home/private life mode. It will also lift your energy…stress or pettiness at work can put an extra drain on your energies. Lemon could help neutralize that and lift your energy after a long day. Don’t use citrus oils on your skin if you will be in sunlight within the next 12 hours…it can cause sun sensitivity. Also don’t put it on your skin if you have autoimmune diseases as it enhances immunity (a good thing in cold/flu season for most people)

And there the energies step back. I hope this helps!

Best Wishes,

Photo: Witches Tarot by Ellen Dugan and Mark Evans, used with permissions published on LlewellynPublishing.com

A Mask That Lets You Dance

https://youtu.be/1ylnZh-7JNs?si=NaCoitbeUvEQ7Ttu

Today’s card is from The Normal Tarot second edition by Seven Dane Asmund. They describe the card as being connected to dreams and deeper meanings. I get the sense of two threads of meaning connected to the card today. One, connected to the dreaming part, another tied to the visual image on the card of masks and dancing. Of the two, the mask part seems to carry the larger energy.

For the dream part, I get a sense of yes, you are right. If you have a hunch about what a dream meant, you are right, it is what you think. The next few days to maybe a week feel like the right time to do shadow work, dream journaling, read about dream symbolism and so on.

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate”

Carl Jung

Visually, my attention is drawn to the masks in the masquerade scene. Masks are a kind of safety. Literally when it comes to airborne viruses. Socially masks can be a shield of safey that shows a carefully curated portion of our authentic self so we can dance freely until our full face can be free too. You are not lesser if you protect some inner, precious side of yourself. Sometimes a mask is like the face shield on a hockey helmet. Sometimes a mask is the thing that can let you dance fearlessly.

“Live the best life you can. Life is a game whose rules you learn if you leap into it and play it to the hilt. Otherwise, you are caught off balance, continually surprised by the shifting play. Non-players often whine and complain that luck always passes them by. They refuse to see that they can create some of their own luck.”

Frank Herbert, in Chapterhouse Dune

Tarot and the Lo-Teks

Yesterday’s post was, obviously, about a new shop item on my ko-fi page. All the proceeds from my ko-fi page go toward web-hosting Sage Sips without ads, keeping the Substack paywall-free, and maybe generating a few donations for causes I care about (more about that in a later post.) I’m not going back into business. Handwritten Tarot readings are not a money-maker.

Trust me, I’ve tried it before.

I originally offered tangible, pen and paper Tarot readings years ago, when AI was the stuff of cyberpunk fiction – not anything anyone actually used in normal day-to-day life.

I’ve always been a William Gibson fan, dating back to Neuromancer. I originally offered handwritten Tarot because it was cool and niche. Bringing back handwritten Tarot is more the Lo-Teks from Gibson’s short story turned Keeanu Reeves movie, Johnny Mnemonic.

I never imagined that a person to person email with a digital photo would seem low-tech next to computer-generated art and writing, but here we are. Physical paper and handwriting seems like ancient, mysterious wizardshit by comparison.

If you want a talking type of reading – eesy peesy. There are psychics by the dozens out there doing that and it is up to you to figure out if they are trustworthy or not. (The Tao of Finding a Psychic might help) As far as I know, there are only a handful of us working in the typed-word and email formats, and fewer still that do handwritten pen and ink readings.

“A thought is powerful, the spoken word even more so, but the written word is the most powerful of all”

Sallie Christensen, psychic and author

I’m not going back into business, but I am offering these readings as a quiet rebellion against AI. This is my Lo-Tek Tarot.

Handwritten Tarot is magical and powerful – arguably even more so than spoken in-person ones. This kind of Tarot can never be digitally replicated. My bad handwriting and cringy doodles show you they are 100% real, 100% HUMAN .

Handwritten Tarot has all the advantages of any distance reading: You can’t unintentionally give body language cues. There are no leading questions, no stage mentalism, no tricks – these readings are pure spirit and intuition. No drama, no AI slop – just quiet wisdom in the ancient way of pen and ink writing.

Please include your name, U.S. mailing address, and question for the reading with your order. If you don’t include a question or topic, no problem! I’ll automatically do an open style reading and let intuition lead the way.

Sent folded into a standard #10 envelope, this Tarot reading is discreet and private. This is highly customized folk art with no refunds or exchanges. Available to USA mailing addresses ONLY.

This nominal charge is only to cover the cost of paper, postage, driving to the post office and the extra effort that these take to create.

Just like always, these readings are highly customized ephemeral folk art for entertainment and personal spritual enrichment, and do not predict the future. No refunds or exchanges or any of that other business-y stuff. Caveat emptor and whatnot.

Order one from my ko-fi shop HERE if you are interested in giving it a try.

A.I. Rebellion

I’m not going back into business, but I am offering these readings as a quiet rebellion against AI.

Handwritten Tarot is magical and powerful – arguably even more so than spoken in-person ones. It can never be digitally replicated. My crappy handwriting and weird doodles show you they are 100% REAL.

Experience one for yourself. It has all the advantages of any distance reading: No body language cues, no leading questions, no mentalism – these readings are pure spirit and intuition. No tricks, no drama, no AI – just quiet wisdom in the ancient way of pen and ink writing.

Please include your name, U.S. mailing address, and question for the reading with your order. If you don’t include a question or topic, no problem! I’ll automatically do an open style reading and let intuition lead the way.

Sent folded into a standard #10 envelope, this Tarot reading is discreet and private. This is highly customized folk art with no refunds or exchanges. Available to USA mailing addresses ONLY.

This nominal charge is only to cover the cost of paper, postage and the extra effort that these take to create.

Just like always, these readings are highly customized ephemeral folk art for entertainment and personal spritual enrichment, and do not predict the future. No refunds or exchanges or any of that other business-y stuff. Caveat emptor and whatnot.

Order one HERE if you are interested.