7 of cups – Sage Words Tarot

Where Attention Flows

Keep your eyes on the road because you drive where you look.

Hi and welcome to Sage Words Tarot blog and Sage’s Short Sip Tarot podcast where we take a Tarot look at the week ahead in the time it takes to sip your coffee. Or Tea. Or adult beverage. Or whatever it happens to be that you are sipping whatever time of day you happen to see this. No matter what is on the menu, I’m happy you are here. Let’s look at some cards, once again drawing from the Alleyman’s Tarot, used with the permission of deck creator Seven Dane Asmund and Publishing Goblin LLC.

If you are reading on the blog, you already know this. If you are listening on the podcast, when you get a chance, take a peek at the blog or at the Sage Words Tarot YouTube channel. There is a companion video posted that shows the real world card draw for today’s collective energy reading. It’s real. It’s me. This is exactly what it would look like if we did an in-person reading together, just like the email readings I do are a written transcript of exactly what I would say to you in a live reading.

Actually no, I take that back. It would be better than live. That’s why I love this text to voice setup between WordPress and Spotify for podcasters. I am so much better as a writer than I am as a social media presenter. You are getting something next level when I can use a keyboard and get into writer mode. It’s a little like the old school Batman comics. Letting me use a keyboard to communicate is like using the big red direct line Bat Phone in the police commissioner’s office. Writing and typing for me is a direct hotline right to intuition. But that is all stuff you can read on the blog.

Let’s look at the cards for this week.

The “wait” energy is lessening, but it is still not time to start or run. The introvert vibe has not quite yet swung in the opposite direction. Don’t worry. It will. It always does. We’ll be back on the Be Strong! Persist! You got this! bandwagon soon enough.

For now – we’ve persisted. We’ve done the thing. We’ve made it through the 2020s decade so far. The worst may be over for the moment, but we are probably feeling worse for the wear it took to get to this moment.

The cards today are the “wound man” as fading energy, the Queen of Ravens as current energies, and the Seven of Cups as the growing energies.

The “Wound Man” card feels like the 10 of swords and the nine of wands rolled into one.

This time, this week, is less about assigning blame and more about understanding and solving the problems at hand.

In internal martial arts like Tai Chi from China, it is thought that energy flow is directed by our sight and attention. Looking where you want to place power not only helps bring the head and body posture into alignment, but it also leads the chi, the life energy where it needs to be.

It’s just like drivers education classes long ago in the dark before times. We were told to keep our eyes on the road because where you look is where you steer and that’s where the car goes. Attention is crucial, so we can add the Chariot card energy into the mix today too. The Wound Man card is bringing in elements of the nine of wands, the ten of swords through their connection with woundedness and

For physical wounds to heal, there has to be enough blood flow. Blood flow and the chi life energy go hand in hand. Healing needs attention. Neglected wounds are at risk of infection. That fits with both our modern scientific understanding of infections and with the notion of healing energy flowing with our attention. This is put into practice energy wellness systems like Reiki, acupuncture, acupressure and Reiki.

All of that, every physical bit of it is outside of the realm of Tarot. Emotional wounds, however is right in Tarot’s wheelhouse. Here I am very much reminded of the quote from psychologist Carl Jung who said that “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

It may not be long term psychotherapy, but Tarot can be part of the wound cleaning and fresh bandages for emotional injury. It helps to narrow our focus or broaden our understanding. When we are unseen or invalidated or demeaned by others or suppress or neglect our own feelings, problems can turn up just as certainly as allowing a physical wound to fester – as nineteenth century as that sounds.

The wound man reminds us that accidents can happen or we can caught in the crossfire of cruelty. But then what?

The Queen of Ravens is akin to the Judgement card without the religious overtones. There is also a sprinkle of the Seven of Pentacles with a reaping what you sow quality. There is a sense of quick and dispassionate karma. What you give reflects back to you quickly. I hear “choose”

The next bit is hard to put into words. It feels akin to “Treat your own wounds with kindness.” and “Allow the Raven Queen, punishment isn’t yours to give this time.” A richly colored natural sunstone comes to mind, with the sense that the Queen of Ravens is protective in the same way, reflecting ill intent back to the source, and providing a warm protected bubble for you to tend your wounds and begin to heal.

Finally the growing energy is the Seven of Cups, the card of abundant options. Often this card is a caution against dithering or overthinking. Sometimes this card is advice to, when all logical things seem equal, to follow your intuition. Today I hear “growing hope” and a connection with last weeks “wait” message, as if to say more options are coming. Be hopeful, and wait for the right thing. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good, but don’t let the good be the enemy of the better simply because of an inattentive lack of patience.

And there the energies step back.

Thank you all for reading and listening today. The whole thing turned out to be a little more ponderous and heavy than I expected. It will be interesting to see if there are any other big shifts when we look at the collective energy next Monday. I hope you will meet me here to find out how things feel then.

Have a great week and I’ll see you at the next sip!

Under Doing

That old shoe commercial was on to something.

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

Today’s card is the seven of cups.

Cups, very generally speaking, have to do with emotions. The seven in particular has to do with emotions that are overwhelmed, typically by overthinking or too many options. Marketing calls it “decision paralysis” as I recall.

I’ve talked about this with some other Tarot readers. We tend to be thinkers, and overthinking can really bog things down, believe me.

It is a natural thing. There are reasons why startled frozen indecision is compared to “a deer in headlights.” Being put suddenly on the spot can stop decision making in its tracks just as much as overthinking or overwhelming options can.

Regardless of why, what do you do when you can’t decide what to do?

Not to sound too much like a bad fortune cookie, the answer is right there in the quetion.

Do.

If you are overthinking, get out of your head and into your body. Exercise. Wash the dishes. Take a warm shower. Sip a tea. Go for a walk. They call stuff like that “clearing your head” for a reason.

Do.

Turn your attention from the mental realm toward the physical realm for a while. Don’t worry. You can get right back to your overthinking when you are done. You might just discover that after a short break to do something in meatspace that the overthinking is so overwhelming anymore.

The same thing works when the thing that has you stopped in your tracks is big, difficult emotions. Emotions may follow you around while you do it, but again, shift your focus to the physical for a while. Intense emotions might need a little more physical effort. This might need a run instead of a walk, or some serious housework instead of just doing the dishes, and it certainly isn’t going fix everything. Don’t walk away from your emotions forever, but a short walk around the block so to speak isn’t a terrible idea.

It’s the balance of opposites, balance of yin and yang thing.

Sometimes when your emotional self or your mental self is over-doing things, the physical self might be under-doing things a little bit. Turn up the physical a little bit to help balance the overworked and overwhelmed mind and spirit.

Thank you so much for listening. The free Tarot readings on the blog and podcast are not monetized – energy’s message to you comes first, not an advertiser’s. If you enjoy these sips of Tarot, please visit the TaoCraft Tarot ko-fi page where memberships and more all support the blog and podcast. Membership includes extra readings, exclusive how to read Tarot posts and shop discounts.

Your questions are always welcome in the blog comments. There is a link to the blog for all of you podcast listeners. Any likes, subs, or shares that you can give are also much appreciated.

Thanks again. See you at the next sip!

Choose Wisely

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot guidance for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today the Seven of Cups helps us to choose wisely and with a little less stress.

Welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot guidance for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s Card is the Seven of Cups.

Right away the pop culture reference popped in with our idea for today.

I don’t know if it was a deliberate choice on the part of the director or the set designer, but there is real resemblance between this card and the scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where there is an array of cups and Indy has to choose the true holy grail from among them and the ancient knight guardian says that “He chose …. wisely.” So naturally I’ve been intoning the “chose wisely” line and movie reference since watching the movie 1990 -ish.

Indy’s father’s life was on the line. So was his given the giant side effect demise of the bad guy who “chose poorly.” It was a dire, emergent, irreversible choice to be made. Luckily most of us don’t face that magnitude of circumstances in the choices that we make.

Despite the visual similarities, there are circumstantial differences between the energy today and the drama of the movie. Most of the time we aren’t going to POOF and loved ones die because of the choices we make.

There might not be special effect poofing, but choosing poorly can lead to bad things happening. It’s the fear of those consequences that can turn decision making into an anxiety riddled, brain-locking experience. That emotion driven reaction is all the worse when logic leaves us in the lurch. When logically, factually all things are equal it is easy to fall into over-thinking things. That’s where perceived stress comes in, even if the danger isn’t particularly real. We may feel like we are going to be special effects poofed if we choose poorly even if there is no poofing involved. This is where a little stress management and stress reduction comes in handy. Tarot can help. Tarot can help tip those all-things-equal scales one direction or another and help you make a choice a little more confidently. Or, as is often the case with the seven of cups, Tarot can help you get past the logic and overthinking. Tarot can help when it comes time to use your intuition and follow your heart when making an intimidating choice.

Decisions are important. So is staying chill and remembering that if we screw up, chances are we will eventually get a whole new set of choices to make. We may not get to make the exact same choice over again, but we can make new choices that can nudge things in new direction.

We may not choose wisely this time but we can try to choose again all the wiser next time.

Thank you so much for reading and listening!

Thank you for listening! They’re not monetized, so please support this blog and podcast through your likes, subs, shares, private email Tarot readings and Tarot Table memberships on ko-fi.

See you at the next sip!

Let Kindness Decide

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today: seven of cups

Hello. Welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is the seven of cups.

For the past several years, on the first fourteen days of February, I did a series of posts called “My Tarot Valentine” where the one card daily coffee fueled Tarot contemplation was focused on love, romance, and relationships. From one sentence affirmations to a few paragraphs of advice, whatever card that turned up was viewed through as much of a pink hued Valentines Day lens as I could muster.

There were fewer cups cards than you would expect over the years. Interestingly, here we are back in early February and we have a cup card with no romantic or relationship vibe around it whatsoever.

The essence of the message is vague and generally as it always is when you are reading for a wide audience online like this. It can apply to anything, really, including romance. The vibe is basically: don’t be arrogant in your decision making, let kindness lead the way.

Cups symbolize emotions, and the emotion often associated with the seven is feeling overwhelmed, or feeling a level of anxiety because of overthinking things. It can also be a sort of decision paralysis as it is called. That is the feeling you get when there are so many delicious sounding things on a menu that you can’t decide what to order. Instead of an embarrassment of riches, it is an embarrassment of choices.

Having too many good choices, like the delicious menu is a privilege. Feeling boxed in by nothing but equally bad options is a dilemma. Both are solved by letting logic rest and letting heart and kindness lead the way. Look, as many have said, for the highest good with harm to none, yourself included.

Thank you for watching, reading and listening. Neither this blog cast nor the YouTube channel are monetized, so these Tarot card readings depend on your support. Your likes, subs, shares, private reading orders, Tarot Table memberships and ‘buy me a coffee’ donations are always greatly appreciated.

Thanks again, and I’ll see you at the next sip!

Focus!

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today the Seven of Cups and how to make a close decision.

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Why don’t you follow the blog or the podcast so we can sip our way to a whole coffee break?

Today’s card is the Seven of Cups.

Please don’t take offense when I yell focus. Believe me, that’s as much my message today as anyone’s. I’m definitely in coffee and nap mode this lovely chilly snowy winter morning.

But that is what weather like this is for. The card is a little more interesting and complex than that. This card is typically associated with many choices, over thinking and indecision.

In a way, indecision is a privilege. Deciding is easy if you have limited resources and few or no viable options. It’s easy to choose when you have no choice. Indecision because of many good options isn’t a bad problem to have.

Still, decision paralysis as it is called is a problem to be solved. Logic is always a good tool for that. Focus comes in handy because if you can focus and clarify your real need or your real goal, then the choices neccessary to move toward your goal often will become clear. It has a little bit of a “dominoes falling” feel here. Once you have a clear idea, the process to bring that idea to fruition will often fall into place. Or, at least, that kind of focus starts other processes like making a pro and con list to help sort through your choices.

If logic fails, and you find yourself with a “six of one, half dozen of the other” sort of decision to make, then pick up your intuition as your other decision making tool. It seems to me that is the more common advice when it comes to the seven of cups. Cups in general are associated with water, emotions and intuition. Cups cards advise us to follow our heart while swords cards often tell us to use our head.

Sometimes intuition can leave you in that six of one half dozen of the other lurch, too. That’s where Tarot or other intuition helpers come into play.

When things are logically equal, and there are only two top-tier options, and things are coming down to one of those follow your gut kind of decisions, I find the yes/no three card Tarot layout is helpful. It can validate your gut instinct as well as nudge you one direction or the other if you are feeling truly indecisive.

Stay tuned (did I mention that if you follow the blog you get all of my free Tarot content right here, and all the new posts are delivered fresh right to your inbox?) I’ve done this several times recently but MY instinct this morning is to post another yes/no example soon.

When the Seven of Cups crosses your path, it is a hint that you are going in circles and overthinking. It’s time to focus. First, use logic to sort and prioritize. If that doesn’t work, follow your gut and your heart or any other internal organs that might have something to say. If that doesn’t work, see if a divination tool or intuition helper like Tarot gives you a nudge or a validation.

If that doesn’t work, take a nap.

Just don’t forget to focus and try again when you wake up.

Thanks for reading, watching and listening to TaoCraft Short Sip Tarot. I always appreciate your support. See you at the next sip!

A Sip of Tarot: Back Burner

Today’s card is the Seven of Cups

It’s easy to think yourself into circles. This is a card for all the over-thinkers of the world, but anyone can become overwhelmed.

Sometimes the seven of cups is a good problem to have. If you only have one really viable option, then deciding is easy. This card is about an embarrassment of riches when it comes to options and choices. That’s not the worst problem to have. But however good or bad the problem may be, how do you solve it?

The back burner is your friend.

I grew up in a very rural place south of the Mason Dixon line. Whatever else you may think of southern culture in the U.S. the food is fantastic. It seems like everyone is born knowing how to cook and cook well. In that elite company, regardless how many potluck dishes or helping hands you have in the kitchen, making the turkey for Thanksgiving was the black belt test. In our family the hoopla was at the house wherever the turkey baker lived and everyone helped but if you own the kitchen and you make the bird you are in charge. To put it in Star Trek terms, if you are Captain Turkey, you have the con. The way they could get everything together, hot and tasty, all on the table all at the same time was a wonder to behold.

Even cooking a comparatively small meal for our own little household, getting it all in the same place at the same time takes a little strategy. The Thanksgiving meals I make are far more Cowboy Bebop than Captain Kirk. But it is still a hint about how to deal with an overwhelming number of choices, tasks or side dishes: Shift your attention.

Take a break and work on something else. It works for too many choices and for a lack of ideas. If you feel like a deer in headlights or feel like you “got nothin'” to give to the situation. rotating your attention to a different project works a magic of its own.

Today’s Tarot: Fear and Indecision

Fear and desire are at the root of indecision. We desire to do the right thing. We fear the consequences of doing the wrong thing. We fear harming others with the consequences of our choice. We desire to avoid the responsibility of choosing. We want to avoid the nuisances of minor choices. Fear paralyses.

Consider the alternatives, have a plan B, remind yourself if/when you can reverse directions should you unintentionally make the wrong decision. Think: is your decision (or lack of one) motivated by some desire – including th desire to avoid? Addressing fears about potential outcomes might make a difficult choice little bit easier to make.

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YouChoose Interactive Tarot: Big Simplification

Pick a card, any card. Well, any of three. Take your time or choose quickly. It’s your choice – like everything. If you want some extra time to ponder, pause the video then restart to see the reveal.

The weird thing is that I am finally, finally getting a sense of how to dial into these YouTube videos. The intuitive signal is on a completely different wavelength than working with an individual or writing for the blog. Actually, download speed would be a better analogy for how it feels to intuition. If doing a YouTube video is OG dial up, speaking in person is broadband. Typing on a keyboard is cat 5 hardwired cable. The message is the exactly the same. The core, underlying process is the same. It is a subtle difference from my side of the table, but on your side of the table the only difference is how artfully I verbalize your spirit message. Not that you need to know that – but I wanted to give you fair warning. I want to try something and YOUR feedback would be very, very helpful.

I’m thinking that for “YouChoose” posts, I’ll post the video and let it stand on its own. That way, you can choose your card with no potential spoilers on the page below. If anything, I’ll put a general energy, zeitgeist kind of read, like the speckled stones image that returned this week. That image may hint at a longer wave of energy akin in length to the hurricane image from last year (although certainly much different in meaning and tone.)

Once caveat in doing things that way: locality. The general cultural energy impression might be very local. It most likely will be limited to the US, the eastern time zone or possibly my million or so close neighbors here in Allegheny County. I won’t know about that part until we work with this format for a while.

I would like to know what YOU think!

Do you like the YouChoose format at all in any iteration?

Do you like the cards in print under the video or the video alone?

Is there anything else that you want to see in the blog? Tell what content you want to see, and I’ll create it. Easy as that.

Pick a Winner

Choose choosing

The seven of cups has turned up in several readings lately, and when that happens it makes me think there is a message for everyone, a read on general energies.

It does fit. Vaccine availability rolls on and people are starting to think about what’s next. Legit decisions have to be made about how to get through this last critical time of mitigation, vaccination and evaluation (of how variants progress and THAT piece of it unfolds) There are decisions to be made and courses to be set.

The Seven of Cups talks about decisions. First and foremost, that you should make them. Even if you keep doing the same thing that you are already doing, it has a different energy if you deliberately CHOOSE to keep doing it. It is the difference between a mindful, purposeful choice and mindlessly letting it all happen. Choices are empowering even when the choice is to do nothing or the choice is to wait and decide later.

One of the psychiatrists I used to work for used to say deciding not to decide is still a decision. Making a decision has real psychological implications. It is a step toward emotional health and balance for any of us. Making a choice is not only empowering, it is anxiety relieving. Once you choose where you want to go, then it easy by comparison to decide how to get there.

That isn’t to say that decision making is easy. The more important it is, the more intimidating the choice becomes. Choices have consequences. That includes the choice to act on a decision – or not.

The seven of cups also talks about the challenges of making a decision. Sometimes there are too many good choices and we dither. Too many good choices and are decision making process freezes like a deer in headlights. Marketers call it decision paralysis. Or you can get the opposite, where there are no good options and we freeze in a different set of headlights. In these situations the advice is to simplify as much as possible. Then, all things being equal follow your heart – or you gut, whichever seems to be leading the way. This is tied to the other thread of decision-problem energy in the card. Sometimes we over think. We make choices much harder than they have to be and go in circles upon mental circles over the potential outcome of the decision. Again, the advice is to simplify. When all else is equal and logic doesn’t suffice, then let love, intuition and a good old gut feelings lead the way.

If the seven of cups comes to you, brace yourself for blunt, confrontive adages: “Suck it up buttercup” “shit off the pot” “you can’t sit on the fence” “lead, follow or get out of the way.” “Choose wisely.”

Indecision is uncomfortable. Even a bad choice is a learning opportunity. A good choice is a liberating thing.

“I don’t think we can sit on the fence anymore. We have to make up our minds. And if one wants to choose the path of darkness, then so be it, but be conscious of what it is you’re doing.”
Seal (via brainyquote.com)

YouChoose Interactive Tarot 9/6 – 9/12/20

Hi again! Hard to believe it is time for another weekly reading. Funny thing about this year. Small bits of time seems to fly, but looking back over the year it seems to be about a decade long. Time is as fluid in perception as it is relative to speed it seems. I hope you’ll take a peek at the special offers page and keep an eye out for the (rapidly becoming annual) hello posts. September 2018 was the beginning of Modern Oracle Tarot’s (and Tarotbytes blog’s, and Quirk & Flotsam etsy shop’s) rebranding process. October 31, 2018 was the grand unveiling of TaoCraft Tarot that brought everything under the same conceptual cyber roof. This year, I’m celebrating TaoCraft Tarot’s second anniversary all the way through re-branding season with a digital one card InkMagick reading giveaway through midnight on Halloween. Fall has a sense of newness: a new school, a new season, a new name. It is very much a vanity project, but over the next several weeks I’d like to reintroduce myself and the foundation ideas behind TaoCraft Tarot to all of you and to the newer subscribers on the YouTube channel. But now for THIS week:

Left: The Hermit. A major arcana card, if you chose left, you are being pulled toward a path of higher energy. This week is headed toward some spiritual OOMPF that may be more feeling than physical manifestation but just as important. There is a strong mental image of a compass here, which inspired the post title. There is a feeling of active navigation. This card doesn’t imply that you are lost or going in the wrong direction, but rather empowers you to SET your direction. Fall and Halloween season are, for some, the new year season as well. The feeling is less nostalgic than the January new year season tends to be. You can be retrospective then…the advice here is to “tee up” the end of 2020, set yourself up to end strong. You have everything you need to do that on the inside. Even if you are young, you have the experience you need (from spring of this year if nothing else) to set your direction for Fall. Your inner light is your best guide. Quiet time brings it to the surface: a long job, a cup of coffee with some music, a bubble bath, meditation – whatever works best for you.

Center: 7 of Cups. A minor arcana card, no red lights or sirens around this week. More minor nuisance kind of feeling here. It is a gift to have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to options. Don’t overthink, don’t let the decision paralysis get you. Here I get the mental image of Luke in the ice cave, closing his eyes, taking a deep breath and just reaching out to get his light saber. Similar feeling here. Listen to you inner vision, let your heart lead the way. Quiet is key for you, just like the Hermit card, but in a more internal than external way. Quiet the chattering monkey mind to let your heart (and gut instinct) speak.

Right: Ace of Swords. Remember that ice bucket challenge that was going around several years ago? That comes to mind as symbolic of this card’s advice. It is the exact flip-flop of what the seven of cups is saying. Follow your brain. Try to keep chattering monkey guts and emotions in check and let cool reason and intellect guide the way. It may feel unfeeling, cold and calculating – but cooler heads prevail and set things in a much better direction. Step away from the social media…this is NOT the week for hot takes on the first thing that fries your cakes. Stay frosty for a better outcome.