Tag: obiwan

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

Today’s card is the King of Cups

The energy of the card today isn’t quite typical for a King card. It fits a minor arcana court card, just not the usual boilerplate interpretation of the Kings per se. Often court cards, or the face cards as they are called in the modern game playing deck, are an in-between energy. They have more zing than the number cards in the minor arcana, but not quite the wattage of the major arcana cards. Kings represent the yang side of leadership. They are outward facing energy, very proactive and protective. This card is still connected to leadership, but in a quieter, more castle and keep sort of way. Cups are tied to closeness and emotion. The King of Cups is but in an intimate one to one sort of way. The King of Cups is an leader within the emotional and intuitive realm. The King of Cups is a mentor.

Here I am reminded of that old TV show Kung Fu. My Grandfather loved it because it was essentially a western and anything with cowboys and horses was high on his list of things to watch. We used to watch it together all the time, but my favorite parts were the flashbacks to the Shaolin Temple with “grasshopper.” I guess my affinity for Taoism and Chan Buddhism started at a pretty young age, come to think of it. That is so not a typical thing for 1970s evangelical appalachia, believe me. I think that memory comes to mind just now because of the mentoring relationship between Master Po and Kwai Chang. Yoda, Luke and Obiwan also come to mind if you prefer the Star Wars mythology.

Mentoring is an interesting relationship somewhere in between friendship and detached mass education. It is far more than just a one to one tutor. It is a friendship with a little airspace, allowing for correction and redirection.

Chingliang Al Huang, who collaborated with Alan Watts on Watts’ masterwork The Watercourse Way, wrote an excellent book on the topic The Tao of Mentoring. I’m guessing none of you will be surprised to learn I read both of those ages ago. But I highly recommend the Tao of Mentoring for anyone who is considering a career that involves one to one guidance like, for example, holistic health consulting or Tarot readings.

There aren’t many Yodas or Master Pos around these days, but guidance and mentoring is available to anyone willing to listen.

I don’t remember it exactly, but I once read a quote about how it is ok, even good to spend time alone. Sometimes we have to be alone to realize just how deeply connected everything really is. It has also been said by Robin Williams, Maya Angelo and others that it is far worse to be in the middle of people and life and things….but still feel alone.

Whether we are literally alone or feeling alone in the middle of other people, the King of Cups reminds us that we are never cut off from guidance and mentoring. The volume gets very very low sometimes, but never quite goes away. I’ve said it many times. Spirit speaks in whispers. Intuition is our ability listen to those whispers.

You would think I’d like the ASMR thing on social media. But honestly, I hate it. I must be wired differently from most people. Those whispery, breathy vocals especially make me want to yeet something at the TV or chuck my headphones across the room. But it comes to mind as an example for that process of listening to the whispers of guidance that comes from the collective unconscious, spirit guides, angels or however you name such things.

The King of Cups is quieter today than a typical king card reading. That indirectly reminds us to listen to real world mentors. The King of Cups, being a leader, reminds us that the best mentors listen too.

And thank you for listening to this blogcast now. See you at the next sip!

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Today’s Tarot: From a Certain Point of View

Deja Vu. Have we just had this card and this energy recently? There is something out there, in the general zeitgeist energies that is a bit of a flashback replay.

I try to be vigilant about blaming my own issues or emotions on energy, spirit, or any of this psychic intuitive thing…true enough, this could be my annual ‘I don’t like August’ funk, but the volume is turned up higher than usual. I’m not sure what or why, but there is some abstract something that feels like March 2020. Yes, I have my own stuff that probably accounts for a big part of it, and no, I’m not going to share any of it here because I’m very protective of everyone’s privacy, but still, there is some something in the ethers that’s ringing the old intuitive-sensitive bell too.

Has anyone else noticed anything like that or is it just my need for another cup of coffee and a nap? Seriously. Comments and email are open.

For whatever reason, this card and its energy today seems all too familiar.

There were a few ideas so equal, it was hard to pick one for the video caption. First there is the boilerplate “it all depends on your perspective” idea. Think about the view from the standing person’s perspective vs the seated person’s perspective on the card. The standing person can see the way ahead is actually clear and can see the landscape fully for what it really is. If the seated person sees anything of the landscape or the water, it is through sharp edges, gaps in a wall of swords.It is very much reminescent of that Obiwan line from Star Wars about what he told Luke being true “from a certain point of view.” or the parable of the blind men and the elephant. Small shifts in perspective can create big changes in feeling and understanding.

Equal with the idea of perspective, the energy idea of obstacles steps forward. Funny thing, obstacles. Seems like you will either crash into them, crash through them, or figure a way around them. If an obstacle is perpetually floating just in front of you, like swords stuck in the canoe you are riding in, is it really an obstacle at all?