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 This isn’t the withdrawn or introverted energy we’ve seen recently either.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.

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Today’s Tarot: Data Driven

“Today’s Tarot” is a series of one card daily meditation style Tarot readings. blog posts (and youtube shorts) One card meditations are a great way to learn the cards and to build a relationship with Tarot as a a way to enrich your quality of life.

One card readings are also perfect for a very narrow, focused look at a single, well-known topic. It is a good for a quick follow up on how things are going after a bigger reading.

If you order a $5 one card meditation by email, it will be longer, more personalized, and much more focused just on your individual energy instead of reading the general cultural energy environment, like blog post and YouTube readings tend to do.

Stay tuned for an example of a personalized one-card meditation reading. Please follow the blog so all new posts come right to your inbox – that way you won’t miss a thing.

Today, the Ace of Swords reminds us to use our dang heads.

Swords often denote action. They are also associated with the element air, and with mind and intellect. If we look at the suits in terms of how they relate you to your life in general, swords are your relationship with society, culture, rules and authority. The authority part steps forward here…your authority and the decisions you make for yourself in life in particular.

The energy today calls for incisive intellect. Decide based on facts and data more than emotion. “Work the problem” as they said in the Apollo 13 movie. Work through things through step by step, deliberately, logically. Thankfully, no one is stranded in outer space, so it may help to slow down as much as possible to help that happen.


Interested in a Tarot reading, but not sure if distance is right for you? It can hold all the same magic and insight of a live reading, especially if you are a book lover like me.

TaoCraft Tarot by email is a reader’s reading.

A customized, individualized one card meditation is an affordable way to sample the style. Order yours HERE.

Taraffirmation #2

Introducing “Taraffirmations” (almost) daily blog posts of a positive, present tense statement based on the 12 Second Tarot card of the day, intended to inspire you, empower you, and just plain add a bright spot to your day.

Subscribe to the TaoCraft Tarot YouTube channel to watch the 12 Second Tarot draw (almost) every day.