coffee – Sage Words Tarot

Dare to Define Your Own Daring

Tarot isn’t tied to time, even in these little readings that look just at the week ahead.

That is the whole reason I don’t do classic “past-present-future” readings. Tarot is about energy, and energy is all about flux and flow. It doesn’t keep to a schedule. Neil DeGrasse Tyson has tells us … “The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.” By the same token, the universe is under no obligation to match our calendars and schedules.

Sometimes the best Tarot can do is to help us make our way through the unknowable chaos as best as we can.

As methodical as we may try to be about it, the way Tarot does that is by engaging our pure, raw, natural human intuition.

My method and structure for these readings is that the right side card represents energy that is fading at the moment and probably won’t have a large influence during the week. The middle card is the dominant energy, our primary food for thought or the suggested tactic for getting through the week. The left card is growing energy that may have progressively more influence as the week goes on. This is an idea or issue that is on the horizon and warrants our keeping a weather eye on it as the pirate movies say.

Sometimes intuition comes along and chucks that whole structure right out the window.

Today, the energy is less about the general flow of the week and more about individual processes. Instead of a growing energy that gradually replaces a fading one, this is more about three energies that are simultaneously present, but in different proportions. The mental image here is a sound mixing board, with all of those little slidey things that let you turn up some parts and down others. The CD player I had back in the 80s had something like that on it, and of course we all had the bass turned up to max…but that’s beside the point.

I think the real point is that we are all creating our own individual mixtape of energies this week and there is no real overarching collective zeitgeist for a change. That individuality in the middle of the collective is kind of the core message of the thing: Stand strong in your individuality. That will in turn allow you to better show up for your life and for the important people in it. When that happens, life will in turn show up for you when you need it.

Here the mental image shifts to one of those speckled quartz granite countertops, with all the pieces being part of the one smooth stone. We are individuals with individual integrity (knight of swords), yet we are all connected (three of cups)

Typically the Knight of Swords is about courage, daring, and pushing beyond your comfort zone. But what if your comfort zone IS the daring thing?

We live in – ah – interesting times.

For some, living in their true, authentic comfort zone can be a truly death defying act. For those of us who are not targets of hatred and bigotry (yet), for us to not be our fully authentic self is an act of cowardice by comparison.

In short, occupy your comfort zone. Fully. With gusto.

The internet says to show up for ourselves. When we have the courage to find our comfort zone and stake a claim to it, then we are better able to be there for other people in their quest to do the same. The Knight of Swords connects to the Three of cups.

When you show up for life in a way that is true to yourself and emotionally present for those you care about then life will show up for you. It can and will reciprocate in a deep and lasting way as symbolized by the Two of Cups.

Define your comfort zone Be fully in your comfort zone – with gusto. Then be in your comfort zone for and with others. Then life can meet you at the edges and make the comfort zone a little bigger.

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Learn With Me: Oracle Dice #3

Sage Sips is intuition and contemplation in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today we continue to explore the Publishing Goblin’s Oracle Dice

Albert Einstein famously said that “if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

That is as true of intuition and esoterica as it is of physics.

78 Tarot cards is daunting enough to learn. 22 dice multiplied by six faces each – no, wait – the one is a D12 so that is like a bonus – 23 times 6 is 138. And that’s just the symbols. I’ve been reading Tarot for 30 years and 138 new symbols and goodness knows how many combinations – I feel a little boggled by the whole thing.

Maybe that is just my tendency to overthink a little bit. There are reasons why I don’t use the Celtic Cross or any other larger layouts. Other readers – that’s up to them – but for me, I’m with Einstein. Simplicity and clarity is the key. We come to oracles to gain clarity. Oracles distill the human experience into a finite number of vague but potent symbols.

Oracle help us un-boggle life. So let’s un-boggle this new oracle. I’m feeling more teacher-ish than student-ish about this. I’ve done my student work with other oracles. Now it’s my turn to be the professor and here is our lesson plan:

Each post we’ll “pull” a new dice, by randomly jiggling it out of the pouch which I gave a good shake right before I started the lofi one handed video that you see above. The dice will be put in a row above the symbol for the day so there are no repeating dice over the next several weeks. When we have 7 of these randomly selected dice, we’ll work through each of them one side at a time until we’ve looked at all the faces of all the dice.

Then we’ll use that abbreviated set of 7 dice to explore tossing multiples dice at a time, finally putting all seven onto the reading cloth that came with the dice. Ultimately I’d like to try a reading or two hurling the whole 22 dice set at the reading cloth and see what we come up with.

Daunting? Not really when you go step by step. Simple? Yes, for the same reason. Brilliantly adaptable, customizable oracle tool? Absolutely.

Now on to today’s symbol, “The Scavenger” face from “The Alleyman” dice. (Used with permission of Publishing Goblin LLC)

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Day Job Day

Why do I still do Tarot readings?

I’m really good at it.

Plus it gives me pleasure to write about the deep spirituality and unending fascination that Tarot provides.

I like to think my readings help the people who get them.

And it is all fueled by your private reading purchases, membership/subscriptions (psst! Hey! join Sage Sips on Ko-fi for $5/month and get DISCOUNTS on Tarot readings by email plus access to FREE one card readings in the ko-fi shop)

Not to mention coffee. Both real and virtual. If you feel so moved, virtual coffee is gratefully accepted. Click the mug on the right side of the page ->

The day job* is the main focus today, but I’ll be back on the blogs tomorrow with a “Learn With Me” post and another Oracle Dice throw.

Thank you so much for reading and following along with this all. See you at the next sip!

*Email readings are always OPEN, no appointment needed, no matter what the ‘day job’ is doing.

Have a good Memorial Day U.S.A.

It’s memorial day here in the U.S.

Private Tarot readings by email are OPEN but the blogs and socials are closed today and tomorrow.

Self care people…even if it’s not a holiday for you.

See you Wednesday. Be good to yourself.

The Tarot content on SageWordsTarot.com, Ko-fi, Substack or YouTube is NOT ad monetized. I don’t see a penny from any advertising you may see. These blogs are fueled by your paid subscriptions, your private Tarot reading purchases and coffee. Lots of coffee. If you want to buy me a virtual coffee, I am grateful for those too. Just click the mug on the right of the page ->

Thanks!

Judgement and Action

Learn how to learn an oracle method along with me as I explore the new Publishing Goblin Oracle Dice

Hi and welcome to Sage Sips: a contemplation for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Thanks for being here. This free content is fueled by your private reading purchases, paid subscriptions and virtual ko-fi coffees and plenty of real coffee too.

Figures.

Second roll of the dice and I get my old nemesis, Judgement.

I have to admit, I like this one a lot better than the religion influenced Judgment card from Tarot major arcana. Almost giggled when I saw it, because for a split second I thought it was a muppet face.

Luckily the energy today is on the “use good judgement” side of things and not the Judgey McHubrispants side that pushes my religious trauma buttons.

Off the cuff intuition is on the order of … once you make a reasoned decision, it is pretty worthless without some sort of action. It might be one task, or a million little nuanced lifestyle decisions, but good judgement is tied to action nonetheless.

Quick note before we move on with this post – or this series of posts, actually. I know the singular of dice is die. But this is cyberspace and America in 2023. There is a pretty good chance that something automated is going to confuse the singular-dice word with the become un-alive word. Grammar be damned, I’m calling them all dice. I’m out here trying to help (and hopefully entice you to get a private reading) I can’t do that shadow banned. Talk about your Judgy McHubrispants.

Now – back to the Judgement symbol.

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A little love for here and now

You know that light bulb that has been on since the early 1900s at that fire department?

According to wikipedia, the Centennial Light has been in almost continuous operation since 1901 (longer than the RWS Tarot has existed!) with untold shifts of first responders who can attest to it. It has never burned bright – maybe 40 watts when it was brand new – but it has burned long.

That is the kind of energy this week seems to have.

The here and now deserves our love and attention just as much as our dreams and aspirations do.

The four of pentacles is the fading energy card. Pentacles have to do real world practical things, often money, wealth or career. The four in particular has to do with watching the budget and minding your money, always a good thing. But taken to extreme, it can also symbolize greed or hoarding based in fear. The fact that this card is in the fading position hints that the issue around physical things or monetary / budget issues are likely to be short-lived. The advice is to not let fear drive decisions this week. Logic and practicality is always the primary advice for money matters.

In other words, be careful with the budget, use logic and practical knowledge and don’t take financial advice from Tarot cards.

The Chariot is our current energy card, and the core of this week’s message. It is from the major arcana so even if it is a low-wattage kind of week the ideas here still carry importance. The message may speak softly, but it really really means what it says.

The Chariot card is classically about focus and attention to the present moment. I typically see it during more high energy, high intensity times, but the message today is still the same: Pay attention.

I often call this the ‘test pilot’ card. If you are flying a supersonic jet, you have to keep your mind on what you are doing as you are doing it or bad things are going to happen and happen fast. Whenever you see the Chariot card pull your head out of the past or future or wherever else your thoughts are lingering and be mindful of the present moment. Be as fully in this moment as you can be.

As I write this I am reminded of Polnareff and his Silver Chariot stand from the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure anime. I have no remote idea what that has to do with anything, but if it resonates with you, you are welcome to the connection.

There we have body and mind. The four of pentacle makes a point about the physical realm. The Chariot makes a point about mental focus. Now the Hermit, also a major arcana card, brings spirit and emotions into the mix.

The Hermit card almost always has a lamp or light of some kind on it. It can symbolize enlightenment or wisdom in a high spiritual sense. In this time, it feels like the wattage is turned down on that too. The Hermit’s light is not aiming for ultimate truth, but rather simple illumination.

Whatever your emotions are, point the light at them and see them for what they are. Accept them as they are. You don’t have to act on them. You don’t even necessarily have to express them, unless you want to.

Whatever they are, let them see the light of day. Are you happy? Enjoy! Are you angry, anxious, afraid, or stressed? That’s OK too. Let the so-called negative emotions have their moment in the light too. Accept that they exist and are what they are. Abide with the tough stuff for a little while. You may be surprised how simple acknowledgement and allowing them to be will help uncomfortable emotions to simply dissolve. Or at least lessen intensity for a while.

The trick is not to let that turn into dwelling or energizing them. That’s where we get back to the central message of the Chariot again – of bring our mind back from whatever caused the difficult feelings and refocus on the present moment.

In this present moment, I have a few fast reminders for us. The comments are open to everyone here on SageWordsTarot.com plus there is the contact form on the Ask Me Anything page where you can, you know, ask me anything. There is a chance you might get a one card Tarot reading in reply or that your questions might inspire a Q&A blog post. Of course anything that goes into the blog is always very, very edited to protect privacy.

Also a reminder that none of this is monetized. I don’t see a penny from any advertisements you see, so these free Tarot readings are fueled by you through private Tarot reading purchases, paid subscriptions and virtual coffee tips not to mention plenty of real world coffee too.

Thanks so much for reading! I’ll see you at the next sip!

Rainy Saturday

I love, love, love a rainy Saturday. I’m going to knit and drink coffee (unless someone orders a private email reading. Those are open this weekend too.)

Which is which basically today’s Tarot advice. Big dramatic spiritual learning doesn’t have to happen every single solitary day. It’s OK to follow your mood, especially in esoteric, energy or spirituality related things.

Outside of prescription medication and basic bodily functions, I can’t think of much that IS mandatory every single day … unless you want it to be.

That includes Tarot.

Reading cards for the same question over and over is a bad move for a host reasons. Reading at all needs a break every now and then.

Stop questing and searching for a few hours. Give it a rest.

USE what you already know. Integrate your spirituality as it stands now and make it a part of who you are today.

You can quest more later, when you feel the need. It isn’t something to force yourself to do.

The Tao Te Ching is often translated as the WAY of virtue. Ways are paths, ways are methods.

It is about making friends with yourself and your surroundings as things are right now even as you move forward. That includes days when you work hard to improve yourself, and days when you enjoy your favorite hobbies or pay attention to your sleeve increases.

The Mandalorians are right…this is the way.

Enjoy your weekend!

Comfort

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Alleyman Tarot by Seven Dane Asmund used with permission

What are you waiting for?

Energy path Tarot reading for the week of 15 May 2023

Hello and welcome to Sage Sips. I’m glad you are here and right off thank you for hanging in with this through all the changes in 2023. With the demise of WordPress to Spotify integration and PodCastle not being as free as they made themselves out to be, the podcast is once again on hiatus, possibly permanently.

As we go along, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. Blog comments are open, or you can use the “ask me anything” page on sage words tarot dot com. Substack chats and ko-fi DMs are open to subscribers.

This week we are working entirely from the minor arcana. Sometimes all minor arcana can hint at a low key or low energy week but it doesn’t mean it is an inactive or stagnant week. There is a sense of rootedness in the physical realm thanks to the king of pentacles card. When pentacles are around, there is always a sense of practicality. This is the suit of the physical realm and the classic element of earth and all of the no-nonsense no-drama style that you would expect. The other two cards are both from the suit of swords. Swords is connected to the element of air, but there is nothing airy-fairy about them. Swords also symbolize mind and intellect and action. Put all of that together and this week definitely calls for a head over heart approach. Cool incisive logic is your friend. Compared to the high flying ideals of recent weeks this might seem low energy by comparison, but careful precise action is action just the same. This isn’t the withdrawn or introverted energy we’ve seen recently either. This is deliberate, inexorable forward movement.

The mental image is a glacier flattening the landscape or the slow crumbling ah-ah lava that is just as powerful as the fast flowing type. The energy for this week may be slow, but it is oh so focused on being efficient, effective and enduring. The energy this week seems to be putting the level in level-headed.

Kings are leaders, so if the pentacle card represents concrete wealth, money or career, then the two together hints at a wise use of resources. Don’t let things waste either by sitting and mouldering or by being used frivolously or unwisely. Don’t allow things to sit and spoil, but don’t be a spendthrift either. This is in the fading energy position. Going back to the glacier mental image, I see small rivulets of melted ice, small streams of water flowing quickly down the front of the glacier. That feels like a quicker movement, an influx of resources may come, but not quite yet. It’s not a forever thing, but right now is a time to play the cards you are dealt and work with what you have on hand.

I get the sense of a short time or a not-serious wait. Here I get the mental image of that TV show where chefs compete to make the best dish from the ingredients given to them in a basket.

The current energy card is the knight of swords in reverse. I’ll spare you yet another explanation about how I handle reversed cards. If you have questions about reversals, what that means or how to handle them in a reading – please, ask away in the comments, ask me anything page, or other contacts as listed.

The knight of swords is usually a card of daring, or action and supreme self-confidence. Today the reversal feels significant, it feels like all of those things are blocked or hampered. It feels less like the afraid side of timid and more like a lack of confidence, or negative self-talk. This card isn’t talking to the part of you that is afraid…fear is there for a good reason sometimes. This is talking to the part of you that says “I can’t.” You can. You can do something. Who says you have to do what is expected? Who says you have to do what other people do? Instead of saying “I can’t” figure out what IS within your reach and your resources and do that. Every little bit helps and something is better than nothing in this case.

The growing energy is the eight of swords. Sometimes in a reading a card can serve as a highlight, an underline or an exclamation point to another card’s message. I think that is the case here. The energy of practicality, and level-headed, mind over emotion, deliberate, considered action may with us for a while. The eight of swords is working with the reversed knight to remind us that working within our means and doing what we can do is better than stopping dead in your tracks and giving up, doing nothing.

Take inventory. Make a no-nonsense plan. Act within your means and resources but act. Don’t let “I can’t” take you prisoner. Just because you can’t do one thing doesn’t mean the other things you CAN do aren’t needed or valuable. When it comes to doing the things within your means, what are you waiting for?

Thank you so much for reading and listening.

This free Tarot content is fueled by real coffee, the virtual coffees on ko-fi, paid subscriptions and your private Tarot reading purchases. That allows me to put your message first, not an advertiser’s. Please buy me a coffee or become a “Sage Sips” member with a Ko-fi or Substack subscription today.

Thanks again. See you at the next sip!

At Face Value

Sage Sips: a Tarot look at the week ahead in the time it takes to sip from your coffee

Hello and welcome to Sage Sips the blog, the newsletter and, so it seems, the podcast.

I think we finally and for real have everything set up under th new name. Sage words tarot is the main website with links to all the good stuff including private readings you can order anytime, no appointment needed.

Sage Sips is the name of the active podcast. The old feed under the title “Sage’s Short Sip Tarot” has been deleted or soon will be. Sage Sips is the name of this blog on ko-fi and substack where you can also get these Pathway readings for the week ahead on Mondays, but also subscriber exclusive content at other times.

Simple! And hopefully easier to spell and remember than the name Tao Craft was. So now that all of that is apparently nailed down for the moment, let’s look at the cards and energies ahead for this week. When I say energies ahead I don’t mean what is going to happen.

Nope.

That is 100% up to you and your individual circumstances. These pathway readings are all about the energy conditions that you have to work with, the vibe ahead can help you to make better decisions and take the best actions for you as an individual. It’s like how the general weather report for everybody helps you to decide what to wear out of your individual wardrobe.

You can decide to bring an umbrella if pouring rain is on the horizon, that sort of metaphoric thing.

This week has big energy, but it is big yin energy. There are two major arcana cards, death and the high priestess. Both cards are inverted, and that feels very significant this time.

If you’ve listened or read for any amount of time, you know that I use pure intuition when it comes to reversed cards, that is to say cards that appear upside down relative to the person doing the reading.

Every card has every shade of meaning: black or white, positive or negative, encouraging or discouraging and every shade of grey in between. I tend to reach for all the shades of feeling for every card anyway, so a physical reversal may or may not be meaningful. It might hint that the part of life represented by the card’s position in the layout is blocked, or hindered or difficult somehow. Just as likely, it could be a hint at a particular set of meanings or key words for the card rather than the layout position. Or, just as likely as either of those, it could mean nothing at all.

In this case it feels like a pull. It feels like advice so slow down, to pull back. I’ve never actually done this, but I imagine this is the mental and emotional equivalent of swimming in thick syrup. There is power here, but it is like the power a bowl holds…its usefulness is in the empty space as much as the bowl that defines it.

There is a sense of tension and expectancy, a period of necessary emptiness and quiet to give future progress somewhere to go. That’s why the two major arcana cards are standing on their heads.

The mental image here is two things:

First is the three of wands card. I don’t think that card is significant with regard to its meaning or key words. It’s more of the feeling that is evoked by the artwork on the card, usually of a figure gazing at the horizon. That lends a sense of waiting and expectancy and holding space for hopes like the bowl analogy earlier.

Second is a diagram that looks like a circle within a circle acting as a hinge or a joint. As quiet or empty as this time may seem, it is necessary in order for things to turn in a better direction. It feels almost like the stars are pivoting around this space in time.

The Eight of Cups is the fading energy. That suits the nature of the card so well, that it may not really begin to fade all that much until we are well into the week. It may stick around for a while, actually. The eight of cups is about endings, about walking away from something for your own good or for the good another. It hints at a bittersweet or melancholy separation that at the same time is utterly necessary. It’s about moving on toward something better even when letting go of the past isn’t a joy or delight. Bittersweet, yes, but very very necessary. This card hints at one of those times where you must acknowledge those melancholy or nostalgic feelings even as you definitively let go and move on.

The current energy is death in reverse. Death is the card of change. It is different from the change we see in the Wheel of Fortune card. This change isn’t cyclic. It isn’t about change within a larger or grander pattern. The change in the death card is more permanent, and much more transformational. There are reasons this is inverted death rather than the wheel card or the hanged man card. This isn’t a pattern of progress – wait – more progress. This is cocoon time. The caterpillar is dead and gone, but it isn’t quite time for the butterfly to emerge either. The cake is in the oven, the butterfly is in the cocoon. Profound change is happening, but it is happening slowly, quietly, and subtly.

The High Priestess is sitting in front of one black and one white pillar. There is a very Tao Te Ching feeling here. The Priestess is usually a symbol of cosmic mysteries with very yin, dark, hidden qualities.

Here is where the Taoism part comes in.

You can’t have darkness without light. The mysterious and obvious are opposites that define each other just like light and dark define each other and the solid parts and empty parts of a bowl define each other.

As for the growing energy card, the High Priestess in reverse reminds us that sometimes you can take things at face value or, as Sigmund Freud famously said, “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”

As big and soul-shaking as the walking-away energies in the eight of cups and the death card may be, the advice here is to not read more into things than are already there. The recent past has been difficult and chaotic and changing enough without us heaping unfounded assumptions on top of everything else.

During this time of quiet transformation it is probably best to take the week at face value.

Thank you all for reading, and once the podcast is back up and running, for listening too.

All of my free Tarot content is readers and listener supported. No monetization means your Tarot message comes first with me, not an advertiser’s message. If you like what you see in these weekly readings, please consider a private reading, subscribing the exclusive content on ko-fi or substack or sending a tip to the virtual coffee mug.

Thanks again, see you at the next sip!