I know what to do with weekends! (as far as cyberspace and Tarot goes, anyway)
Nothing! The schedule is that there is no schedule. Family is first priority all the time, but even more so on the weekends. Paid private email readings always get priority over the rest of cyberspace so sometimes there will be free Tarot content during the weekend, sometimes there won’t
Exclusive Free-Blog content! If I write or create any free Tarot content at all on the weekends it will be my first and greatest love – writing. On the weekends I’ll post either here or on the associated but non-Tarot “Sage’s Other Words” blog (or both.) This long-read SageWordsTarot.com exclusive content, plus the occasional announcement or update, is why it is worth your while to follow THIS blog by itself or along with a paid membership.
This free blog has its exclusive posts, The Daily Sip subscription has its exclusive posts, both together gets you everything. I post to a variety of social media, but Instagram is the only one I really interact with so if you want to say hi – that’s the place. Simple!
And it all begins tomorrow.
Monday mornings are earmarked for three card pathway readings for the week ahead for everyone: members, free blog, and free podcast. The YouTube channel, Instagram Reels and TikTok will show the real-world card draw for the reading. Facebook and Tumblr will get links to the free blog when it publishes.
Only The Daily Sip membership will get daily Tarot for the rest of the week.
Some days will be a Tarot contemplation with a public domain vintage RWS card image:
Some days will be cards from a different public domain RWS deck that I own, photographed by me and paired with a relevant public-source quote:
Some days will be my card photo and my original card interpretation for the day:
Frank Herbert wrote that beginnings are a time for taking most delicate care. Or as the 1984 movie version put it “A beginning is a very delicate time.” That may be especially true in the planning stages…in the beginning of the beginning. Now it feels more like kicking in the door and getting the party started.
Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee
Some days you just call it a day
Hello and welcome to Sage’s Short Sip Tarot. I’m glad you are here.
Today’s card is the five of swords. It’s one of those cards that gives the swords suit its reputation for being doom and gloom bearer of bad tidings. Not everything in life is all cotton candy and unicorns. It’s Tarot’s job to get in our face about the messy parts of life as much as it is to inspire us with the pretty ones. Tarot’s symbolism is both because life and nature is both, to borrow the sentence pattern from that line in that movie The Craft.
The five of swords is, at least in part, about winning at all costs and when the costs are too high. Hannibal and the elephants he used to cross the alps and win a victory in one battle against the Romans, but ultimately lose the war is the classic example of this. He started with 37 elephants and only one survived or some such thing.
Of course, my favorite telling of the Hannibal story is Eddie Izzard’s brilliant stand up bit about the Latin language including something about elephants looking like squirrels in the front and pigs in the back.
Thinking of that favorite piece of video (it’s on the internet, and I recommend it) might be a little carry over from yesterday’s Tarot Turnover where we talk about how to read Tarot on the members only blog. Yesterday’s card was the Page of Cups, which always carries a little bit of humor and absurdity. I mean, it shows a dude on a beach staring at a fish in a cup. Whatever other symbolism that may hold, it is on its face a little silly.
So are pigs and squirrels.
When we combine the two cards we get a reminder very apropro to a Monday morning like this.
Ridiculousness and absurdity might be a clue.
When things are dramatically not going your way, when you run headlong straight into a wall, it might be time to pack up your pigs and squirrels and cross the Alps another day.
Winston Churchill may have equated victory with survival, but is that really the victory we are stressing over? If this card speaks to you today, it may be time to stop and evaluate your goals. If it is survival, yes, by all means do that.
If your goal is a quick mocho-choco -frozo-latte when there is a line at the coffee shop, then this is your cue to ease up, and define victory a little differently. Be kind to yourself AND the local barista. Is this really as big of a deal as it feels? Is it worth it? What do we define as a success? Do we need to re-visit and change our goals and our definition of success? What is really, really worth every bit of your persistence and resources and what should be left for another day?
Thanks so much for reading and listening. I wish you and all of your pigs and squirrels a lovely Monday.
If you can, please visit the link in the podcast description or click the white coffee mug on the blog. Your support through private readings, memberships, shop purchases and virtual coffees is what makes it possible to bring these free Tarot readings to you.
If there is an overarching idea to all three cards together, it would be that your choice matters, which is the core essence of all of the YouChoose video posts. These readings are designed to cut through the noise of social media and let you personally touch your reading. As Mat Auryn said in Psychic Witch “What you touch, touches you” or something very akin to that.
If you like this personalized touch to the readings please let me know! If you tell me the kind of Tarot content you would like to see, I’ll do my best to create it. Talk to me! Ask me anything* and I’ll do a Tarot reading for it in the upcoming season of Clairvoyant Confessional podcast (new episode expected Sunday, September 26) Drop a comment below or email your questions to ClairvoyantConfessional@gmail.com.
Six of Swords: Go with the flow, but choose which current you float in. The dog you feed is the one that grows strong.
Page of Cups: find wisdom and inspiration in the absurd. Laugh your way into a better frame of mind.
King of Pentacles: Control what you can – but remember that control seldom occurs in the physical realm. Most of the time your only dominion is over yourself. How you react to things is where you greatest power and most impactful choice can be found.
*all the website disclaimers apply. you can read my policies and privacy statement HERE
Zombie Cat is back for Spooky Season. Get a yes/no Tarot reading by email for $5 off until 31 October 2021. Order HERE or HERE
I feel my August ennui slipping into a Zombie Cat-ish slightly sweary snark mode. This is for you blog readers ONLY (this is the kind of thing that will soon go through ko-fi to “reading table” members)
The first person to email TaoCraftTarot@gmail.com with “zombie cat is in a mood” in it somewhere and a question for the cat will get a three card yes/no reading in reply to that selfsame email. Offer ends midnight US eastern time August 12, 2021
Now go get your shots, wear your mask and washyourdamnhands.
I’m old enough to remember when people wrote letters on actual paper and had actual conversations on landline telephones, so I still appreciate the technology that lets this blog and podcast happen. It warms my Gen X cyberpunk loving heart. I’m also self aware enough to know I’ve got work to do as a media speaker. Dammit Jim, I’m a writer and this automatic thing is going to make a better, more articulate, more entertaining podcast, right?
Right?
I’m not so sure.
Basically, I’m thrilled to bits if anyone reads or listens to any of this. I’ll be doing a full on happy dance if anyone decides to get a reading because of anything in the blog or podcast. But it bothers me that the automated audio doesn’t sound the same as the words sounded in my brain when I wrote them.
My narration may not be Webby worthy – yet – but at least it has more emotional tone and verbal context than the electronic version. It is, after all, human. Humanity is what intuition, clairvoyance, psychology, Tarot and personal development are all about. This tech part is fun as heck and only going to get better as time goes on. But it is what it is, and so is the human side of it all.
I propose a hybrid. When you see “Confession” in the title, you’ll know that’s me recording the episode. If you see “Today’s Tarot” or some other title, you’ll know to expect the cyber side of the podcast.
True to the renegade pirate radio motif, nothing about Clairvoyant Confessional is set in stone. It is naturally evolving to be short, little jelly bean sized episodes. There is no sense holding something like that to a regular release schedule. Text to speech will let me drop content more often, as the inspiration hits. The “confession” episodes will happen less often, BUT they will also be longer and take a deeper dive into the humanity of clairvoyance, psychics, intuition and Tarot. Q&A episodes will always be recorded and never automated.
Did you hear that sound? That was the loud thud of a hint being dropped. If you want to submit a question to be answered in the podcast, possibly in the form of a Tarot reading, just visit the Clairvoyant Confessional podcast page on TaoCraftTarot.com. There is a link in the episode description if you are listening to the podcast. The page is in the top menu for those of you reading the blog.
Thank you all for reading and listening. I really do appreciate any follows, subscriptions, likes, or shares that you can spare. And please, for the love of your own ears, send some feedback or some questions. I can’t read for a question until you ask it.
Thanks again, and I’ll talk to you all when the next jelly bean drops.
yes or no career tarot reading with behind the scenes explanation
Yes or no questions seem predictive: Will X happen, yes or no?
Yes/no readings are a fun to play with. I could sit here, play Zombie Cat* and make predictions all day just as long as everyone realizes that it is all really coin-toss random-ass probabilities and not really a serious “prediction.”
Yes/no Tarot readings can be much more than a magic black ball entertainment prediction. They can give legit, genuinely helpful, short term guidance. It is all a matter of focus and application.
Tarot’s greatest value is overarching, big-picture, life path guidance. It is all about spiritual enrichment, spiritual expression, personal cultivation….you know – generally trying to be a better person and live a good life. Tarot readings, especially the bigger 3, 5 and 7 card layouts, are all about understanding the current situation, making better choices and moving ahead in the best way possible. Big readings are like GPS directions to where you ultimately want to go.
Instead of long term GPS, a yes/no reading is like a single sonar ping of any given moment. It gives a very helpful, but short term, close range nudge in the right direction when you are choosing between two seemingly equal things or want a quick follow up to a previous big reading. Yes/no readings help you deal with right here and right now, but not much else.
Today’s question is a little bit of both. It is one of those all-else-equal things, and also follows up a longer reading from a few weeks ago. It is about a fine tuning a current solo project, nothing to do with long term plans or that would affect other people. Considering all of that, a yes/no reading is ideal for this question.
Q: Should I switch _____ back to _____ or should I continue as it is?
Ok, to start with, a yes-or-no layout can’t answer a this-or-that question. I don’t mean for that to sound harsh. I get it. It is hard to distill things down to a yes-or-no question when you have all sorts of options and resources and different possibilities all swirling around in your head. If you could focus things down to a clear yes or no question, chances are you wouldn’t need a Tarot reading to help make up your mind.
In the early days of my professional practice, I would ask the questioner/sitter to rephrase the question, thinking that it was important for them to put the question into yes/no format in order to properly connect to their spirit message. Learning from experience, I don’t do it that way anymore. They’ve got enough on their mind. That’s why they are here. I convert the question into yes/no format and then proceed with their consent.
Today’s question has two main components; changing and continuing, which begs the question of which part do you ask yes or no about?
After all these years of experience, I’m totally comfortable with just following intuition, and focusing on the component part that seems to carry the greatest energy signature….in other words, which part seems to step forward to carry the weight of the question. If you are reading for yourself I suggest doing the same. If you don’t feel comfortable with shoot from the hip pure intuition, there are lots of different randomizing strategies you could use to help you pick between “Should I change yes or no?” and “Should I persist, yes or no?”
In a two option question like this one, it really doesn’t matter which you choose. A no on one automatically gives you a yes on the other and vice versa. If it is a multiple componant question, things get a lot more complicated. You could do a series of yes/no readings on each of the components, but that gets muddy, convoluted, contradictory and very confusing super fast.
Don’t.
Trust me, just don’t. Write down the components and pick them out of a hat. Triage, and take the most time critical piece first. Do eenie meenie miny moe….anything. Just don’t do strings of of yes/no readings in a row. If the question is too complex, either use a larger, more nuanced layout OR simplify the question and focus on one key part.
The process of dealing into 3 stacks until you either get an to an ace or to 13 cards (whichever comes first) is an old, common knowledge, nobody knows where it came Tarot reading. I like to take it one step further and interpret the final three cards together as if they were a pathway reading in order to get more guidance from the whole process than just a yes or no answer alone.
If that seems like a big, complicated, pain in the ass process to get a good result from a simple yes-or-no question…it is. If you don’t want to yes/no read for yourself, please, order a yes/no reading from me. It’s affordable and I could sort the whole thing out in half the time it took me to explain it all just now.
New Q: Should I change?
A: Maybe but lean yes. Probably yes, actually.
The Fool card speaks to the fresh start and a new infusion of energy and enthusiasm that the new direction would bring to the project. Being a major arcana card, the Fool lends an extra push in the “yes” direction.
The Ace of Swords speaks to the creative and intellectual energy a change could bring. There is a very upward, uplifting quality to the energy.
Of course, seeing the Ace of Pentacles is always a good sigh in any kind of work or career related reading, even a quick yes/no like this one.
All things considered, this hints that making the change in the project is a good idea. Intuitively I feel very positive about it. My attention is drawn to the gold color on the Pentacles card. It isn’t so much about the precious metal as it is the color psychology and the resonance with the solar plexus chakra which in turn has to do with confidence and optimism and personal power. Wear gold or gold tone jewelry if you can. Pyrite or Tiger Eye are also good crystal energies here. It feels temporary…not a long term alliance between you and the tiger eye, however. Again the gold tone feels like a better fit. Grounding, centering woody scents seem important, like sandalwood in particular comes to mind. Pretty standard kinds of recommendations. After a time, I get the sense the tiger eye energy will drift back to the light blue and blue lace agate for communication that we talked about before, but for now the sun / yang energy and warmth of the brown and gold feels more forward.
Thanks again for your permission to do your reading as an example. I’m pulling for you and hope this works out really well, especially for a financial and name recognition boost.
Best Wishes – Ronda
*AZCA is still a thing . You can ask Zombie Cat Anything for free. Use the contact form HERE to ask anything, even for a prediction. Your answer will come in a redacted-for-privacy blog post (like this one, but without the video.) All Zombie Cat answers are for entertainment only, 100% guaranteed to contain words, and have a 50% chance of being dead wrong.
It’s just too soon. After the infamous Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference, I can’t see the word “seasons” without giggling. ‘Year Ahead’ reading works, after all that’s what it IS, but something more creative might be fun for the holidays don’t you think? I got nothin’ so I need your help coming up with a new, fun name.
Comment on the page linked above, and the winning layout name (as chosen by me) will be announced here and on social media December 1, 2020. If multiple people submit the same idea, the first one received gets it. No monetary value, entertainment only, all policies and restrictions apply, void where prohibited, swim at your own risk, no lifeguard on duty, wash your hands and wear a damn mask.
BUT I would still very much like to know your thoughts about yes or no readings in general, this particular format, anything. Comments are open. If for some reason it gives you grief, email me at TaoCraftTarot@gmail.com and I’ll get it to the blog.
OR ask Zombie Cat anything.
Zombie Cat shambles off this weekend, but he’s willing to barter. If you have a yes or no question, he’ll answer it at no charge in return for answering publically on the YouTube channel. Don’t worry…no identifying details are ever used. Nobody has any interest in doxing anybody. It’s entertainment only, all disclaimers apply, wear a mask, wash your hands, swim at your own risk, no lifeguard on duty.
How distance Tarot really is just as good as in-person.
I’ve spent the past few days tweeking the website, making sure the links work and the information is up to date. Feel free to browse around the site. There is a search block in the right hand column on laptop view. Mobile users scroll WAAAYYYY down to get to it (why not give the blog a follow while you are there?)
While doing that, I stumbled across the question of how distance readings can work as well as in-person readings. It is still a very relevant topic as we move into Fall, it is STILL pandemic 2020 and doing things at a distance is just as important as ever (wear a mask and wash your hands too!)
Incoming intuition and psychic impressions come to me the same way no matter what kind of reading we do. The message comes from the universal life energy that is everywhere all at the same time, like gravity. THAT’s what I’m reading, not you or your aura or anything that requires us to be in close proximity. I read the energy for you in the same way, no matter if I say the message in person, say it into a phone, say it into a mic, write it on a piece of paper or type it into a document. Typing is my favorite to do. When I use a keyboard, the words flow easier and with a lot more style and finesse. That’s why I say distance Tarot is my specialty. I type as well as I speak . To be perfectly honest, I write BETTER than I speak most days. To be perfectly honest, I write better than I speak EVERY day if it is before coffee.
But in the end, especially after a couple of cups of the morning brew, it all works the same. I give what I get, and your intuitive message is EXACTLY the same (give or take a few style points) no matter whether you read it or listen to it.
AND don’t forget the free Tarot by email giveaway in celebration of TaoCraft Tarot’s anniversary month ends tomorrow, so now’s your chance if you want to try one. Get your request in before midnight (eastern time) 31 October 2020.
Stay safe. Be well. Stay home. Order covid-safe Tarot readings by email. Wear a mask. And wash your hands.
Sage Words Tarot 