Tag: page of coins

Ain’t no big

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today the Page of Pentacles reminds us that it ain’t no big thing.

Welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s Card is the Page of Pentacles from the Alleyman’s Tarot deck, card artwork by Eli Norvell.

Here is your Tarot life hack.

When you are reading a card, look at the foundation meaning, then add your intuition on top.

Easy.

In this case we have a base of page cards that symbolize learning and pentacles that symbolize our relationship with the physical realm. Intuitively I get the word “easy” and the mental image of that old office supply store commercial with a big read button with the word easy on it.

It would be nice if this means that life will be as magically easy as it is in the world of television ads. But I don’t think that is what spirit, energy, and the card are really trying to say. Life can be hard enough on its own. We don’t have to add to that. Let things be easy and fun whenever you can.

Perception and intention are everything in Tarot, spirituality, personal growth, quality of life, dare I say magick. This is the part where experience, study and a professional’s opinion might come in handy. It takes a little work and experience to connect a random card to a mental image of a television commercial to a meaningful idea we can all apply to make life a little better.

Some days intuition is all POOF and easy and spiritual and satisfying … other days it’s like a mental Rube Goldberg machine. Today is a little bit of both. We have to connect a few dots including a random card, a TV ad easy button and a practical need to drum up a useful idea for today’s post.

Luckily pentacles are practical cards, and today’s dots are, well, practical and easy.

This episode and post is case in point. It serves no purpose to try and make this into some big dramatic spiritual lesson. The bottom line is that it is OK for some things to be easy. It is ok for things to be out of hand, down to earth, and no big deal. Being difficult and complicated doesn’t necessarily add value, but it does add cost. We may feel more accomplished or productive when we overcome challenges but it doesn’t have to be that way every single time. Streamlining and making things more easy has value too. Making things easy gives us a very valuable gift: the ability to give our time and attention to other things.

This playful, forward looking card reminds us not to spend time and energy when it isn’t necessary. Don’t overthink. Don’t make mountains out molehills. Let things be easy when they can be. Learn a life hack. Or better still, invent one for yourself. Then you spend the energy and effort you save on the things that matter the most: you and those you love.

Thank you so much for reading and listening! Any likes, subs, shares, follows, questions or comments are always appreciated. Blog comments are open and I’m on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook most days.

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Thank you again. See you at the next sip!

Cute and Clever

Page of Pentacles: Cleverness saves the day. TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee

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

Today’s card is the page of pentacles made by Eli Norvell for the Alleyman’s Tarot deck pictured above. If you are listening on the podcast, there is a link in the episode description if you want to take a peek at a super fun card. It has a sort of anime, kawaii, bubbly cuteness about it.

Today’s reading actually started yesterday, but it still feels relevant. As always, use your own feelings and discernment to decide if the card applies to you or not. That’s the difficult thing with these blog and podcast readings. It can’t be all things to everyone. If something is on your mind or giving you the feels and this reading doesn’t hit the mark, by all means please consider drawing a card for yourself or consulting with someone like me to get a more personalized reading. So if this helps – great! If not, don’t be discouraged. Keep looking. Your guidance is out there, somewhere, even if it takes some thinking and pondering and contemplating to get to it. That’s why the person getting a Tarot reading is sometimes call “the seeker” instead of “the sitter.”

Just after drawing this card yesterday morning, I got a call from my relatively new part time job at the local library. I love to write, so spending a few hours a week up to my eyeballs in books is a natural fit. It is a small place that our family has enjoyed and supported ever since we moved here years ago. Needless to say I jumped at the opportunity to spend time in one of my favorite places AND make up some income from closing in-person Tarot during covid. When there was an unexpected staffing need, I was so there.

The Page of Pentacles is about newness and opportunities. You could take it to mean that the card predicted that I would be spending the day with my new opportunity half an hour before the phone rang. I wouldn’t mind imagining that I’m that good of a movie grade psychic but that’s not how any of this works. That’s not the message of the moment – yesterday or today.

I may not be TV style psychic, but my intuition is, however, clairvoyant. That means it works with mental images. It is also clairaudient, meaning it works with mental sounds and words. And, as you who follow the blogcast know, it also works heavily with pop culture references – mostly references filtered through my Gen X lens.

To go along with the cute, bubbly, almost anime-like artwork on the card, I was reminded me of an 80s pop song.

This shows a little bit how intuition works through a daisy chain of associations sometimes. Critics say this is stretching, or reaching or fishing for answers in the vein of psychic “cold readings.” When you are reading in person for someone else, it can certainly seem that way. We can talk about cold readings another day, but for now let’s look at one card meditation readings for yourself. How is searching for connections within your own mind something wrong?

It isn’t

It is prompt. It is a structured way to think things through. It is a topic for contemplation. THAT’s what Tarot is all about after all. No matter if you are reading for yourself or getting a reading from a pro, Tarot is food for thought. Sometimes that thought process takes a few steps. Sometimes food for thought takes a few steps to digest.

Ok, back to this intuition daisy chain.

The early 80s Culture Club album “Kissing To Be Clever” came to mind as did the scene in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone where Hermione talks about “books and cleverness.” The word “clever” seemed to be the thing grabbing my attention through this card.

Learning, training, books and cleverness is a concept we see in any of the Page cards. Pentacles bring the page into the realm of groundedness and practicality. Put the two together and that says life hack to me.

This feels like an advice card, reminding us to work smarter, not harder. Look for the life hacks that really work. Let practical experience teach you and make things better next time around.

Yesterday, I posted an announcement that I wouldn’t be doing this episode right after the YouTube short and Instagram reel like usual. That post led me to another piece of life hack advice: have a plan B

Sometimes you have to drop back and punt. Sometimes you have to adapt. The universe provides, but it provides what you need not necessarily what you want or expect. Look for some life hacks, develop a plan B for when life throws the unexpected at you.

And if you can do it all while cute and clever – then bonus points to you!

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Thank you so much for listening. See you at the next sip!

It’s not all woo woo

TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your preferred morning beverage. Today: Page of Pentacles

Hello blog readers and podcast listeners!

Thank you for reading, listening and watching Short Sip Tarot: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your preferred morning beverage. I’m glad you are here.

Today’s card is the Page of Pentacles

When energy and intuition keep banging away at a certain idea for a sustained amount of time through a variety of cards I take it seriously, and a little personally.

During the height of the lock-down, before vaccines were available, there was a spate of pentacle cards with the message to focus on practical things. The notion was to not worry about high flying spirituality and focus on very real, very serious tasks at hand – even when that task was wearing a mask, washing your hands and staying the heck at home.

Lately we’ve had a similar message, but with a different focus and certainly a vastly different reason.

The phrases “gather yourself” and “recover your energy” come to mind. There has been a thread of “play your cards close to the vest” energy throughout January, and it seems to continue, although it feels closer to shifting and lifting.

The Hermit card, the eight of cups, the seven of pentacles, the two of wands: all have a sense of moderation and patience lately. It isn’t a depressed absence of energy, but rather advice about how we can best spend and curate whatever level of energy we feel. This kind of quiescence is more akin to a seed under the ground full of energy and potential just biding its time waiting for the right conditions to rev up and burst into growth.

Pages are about learning. Pentacles are associated with the classical element of earth. The advice is to learn how to ground, and center. Whatever emotion has been turned up to 11 lately – be it joy, grief, boredom, restlessness, focus – anything – now is a good time to turn the volume down a notch or two. It is a good time to settle in a get comfortable for the long haul.

It’s ok to be OK. Not everyday is a spiritual quest. Not every day is rainbow sprinkles and unicorn farts. Not every day is chaos and grief. Some days are meant to just be average. Some days it is ok to just….

…..be.

Thank you again for reading and listening. The private readings you purchase and your support through the tip mug, tarot table memberships, and the shop all go toward creating this free Tarot content. Any reading orders, memberships, likes, subs, or shares are always appreciated.

See you at the next sip.

Sunday Tarot Turnover: Go With What You Know

In this blog exclusive intuition building exercise – you do the card reading. A card is drawn at random, then I’ll give you a list of meanings from past readings that I’ve done. Use your own instincts to guide you to the best meaning or interpretation for you today. Feel free to search this blog or the original Tarotbytes archive for old posts related to the card for more intuition prompts and interpretation ideas.

  • Study, taking classes, formal education of any kind
  • new certifications to advance your career
  • informal learn – any new skill or hobby
  • learning personal growth or self development
  • learn how to ground, center, relax
  • review or revisit old knowledge as if it were for the first time

YouChoose Interactive Tarot : Practical Passions

Letting the video speak for itself today.

Merry Monday everyone!

In-person readings are on hold again. I take my guidance from CDC community transmission rates for Allegheny County PA USA.

E-mail (no appointment needed) and live online readings (by appointment) are OPEN. I’ll be keeping them open throughout the holidays, although delivery times might flex a little bit depending on how many cookies are in the oven

Thanks for reading, watching and listening to TaoCraft Tarot! In addition to blog exclusive content, TaoCraft Tarot is on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tumbler, Ko-fi, Spotify, Anchor Fm, Googlepodcasts, and Stitcher podcasts.

Wherever we run into each other online, please say hello! Your questions and comments are always welcome. (but moderated to keep the energy in a good place for everyone) Thanks!

Today’s Tarot: Pound Foolish

“Penny wise and pound foolish” came to mind with this card today. Like any ‘Murican, I naturally thought Benjamin Franklin wrote it, but a little Googling shows that it was actually a phrase coined by Robert Burton, England’s 16th century aphorism machine. He also said stuff about greasy books and proud humble people. He’s worth a look if you are into the quote thing.

If there is an energy vibe to the card at all, it would be something like “quit screwing around with all the woo woo stuff and use your head.”

Reversals, we’ve talked about. It just means the energy or area of life the card evokes is blocked, slowed or problematic. It doesn’t have to mean something negative or bad, it just gives background context to the overall message.

Often these kinds of head over heart messages come from sword cards. Pentacles is close behind with its association with the earth element. That is the feel today…this is a time to be solid, steady, grounded. Not the day for flights of imagination. This is the roll up your sleeves and work part of working magick.

It make sense, too, in the context of Pentacles’ association with money, career, wealth, work, and all aspects of the physical realm. Those sorts of things scream out for logic, and down to earth practicality. In short, this card is telling us to be “pound wise” to paraphrase Burton. This card is reminding us that money matters should always be goverened by logic and knowlegde.

Page cards are often about learning…they were the knights in training. What is it that you don’t know that could be hurting your long range planning, whatever that planning is about…but doubly so if career or money has been top of mind lately. This is a good day to make sure you have all your ducks in a row, cross your Ts and dot your Is and any other proverbs you want to throw in the mix. Look for any gaps in your knowledge that might cost you later, be it monetary or otherwise.

Just a reminder: the quickest way to reach me for questions or scheduling is through email, TaoCraftTarot@gmail.com.

NEW: you can purchase an email reading through my profile link on instagram

Please follow/subscribe to the blog. I’m scheming a few changes for fall, and this linktree/instagram is the first soft release. “Meet Me On The Equinox” as the Death Cab for Cutie song says. That’s when the $10 off special price ends for 7 card email readings (website only) and when I’ll let you in on the rest of the scheming…although I won’t promise it will survive first contact with implementation.

YouChoose Interactive Tarot for August 2-8, 2020: Happily Learning From the Absurd

Pick a card, left, center or right. Pause the video if you need a minute then restart for the reveal. Or just go with your first impulse. It works find either way. Then scroll down for the full reading. After that, I’ll be making a ranty announcemet un-announcing what I previously announced. Feel free to click away if you aren’t in the mood for it. I won’t swear. Much. I promise.

Left: Page of Pentacles. Learning is the elixer of youth. A little exercise doesn’t hurt, either. Pentacles are associated with earth element and the physical realm, often with career or wealth. If you are involved with any sort of training for work, this is a good week to focus on that. Energy put into aquiring new skill will be productive at some point. The Page of Penticles often hint at new opportunities. If you are well along in your career and an expert in your field, then write or teach. That is a learning experience too. If you have to understand something very well in order to explain it clearly and simply. No matter which end of the Socratic log you are sitting on, this week’s energy is flowing toward communication and new ideas.

Center: Page of Cups. I love this card. Life can be ridiculous. Some days you just kind of find yourself standing in the surf staring at a fish. Weird things happen. Life can be random. I feel a funky mojo week coming on. We can let it get to us – stew, brew and give it energy OR we can surf the waves and bring our new fishy friend. Other people’s harsh can be soothed by the waters of our sense of humor. Sure, 2020 has been a hot toxic dumpster fire in the U.S. for a lot of people. It’s hard to keep a sense of humor about real problems, but it helps.

Right: Nine of Pentacles. This card is associated with “truth” Of course everything is relative and there always seems to be that famous addendum that something is true “from a certain point of view.” This week, you may be asked to see the difference between subjective ‘truth’ and objective facts. Be clear on the objective and measurable. This is a week to remember that everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. Objective, observable, prove-able facts can be your tether and gaslight gas mask. Stay rooted and grounded, and be the voice of reason as best as you can in a week that might seem a little off kilter all around you.

You know that new subscription tier for the blog with the extra content and the one card tarot reading for each subscriber? Not happening.

Stripe, the payment processing service used for the premium blog arbitrarily excludes legitamate businesses on the basis of their content alone. To my mind this constitues outright discrimination against non-mainstream spiritual expression, like Tarot. I caution against working with this company in any capacity.

That being said, there will be no change in the blog or youtube channel. Both will remain free and unmonetized. Your reading purchases will still be processed through secure, reputable PayPal buttons.

I have over 25 years of experience. I’m really good at this – distance readings have been my specialty for years, so you are getting the benefit of that experience with each session. I’ve said time and again that Tarot does not and can not predict the future. That, as I see it, puts Tarot clearly in the realm of customized folk and first amendment protected speech and spiritual practice. My business practices are tranparent and expllicity published here.

As are prices. They are explicit, flat rate fee for service except large parties will charged hourly whenever they return. You know your full cost up front before you ever place the order for your distance reading or live phone session. No per minute rates that keep you talking and no hidden fees, ever.

Long story short, your blog follows, shares, likes, and reading orders are more appreciated than ever, particularly while in-person and party readings are closed during the pandemic.

Thank you so much for reading.

YouChoose Interactive Tarot

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Left: Three of wands. This card appeared in yesterday’s cards too. Did you choose it then too? The three of cards really, really wants us all to stay on guard, continue to do the vigelent things we are doing. Keep staying home and keep an eye on the horizon for any potential storms. Meanwhile, trust 4th he preparations that you have made, and stand on guard for others who are doing critical work. Paying attention, being still, watching IS doing something important.

Center: King of Pentacles /Coins. King cards are not only leaders but also protectors. It is no surprise that coin cards keep turning up, since curating and managing ouf physical resources is top of mind – as it should be. It is time to settle in and DO what needs done. This is where we hit our long term stride and settle in to a marathon pace. The sprint to catch up and prepare is over. Make a plan, stick with it until you see if it is working or not. If not, adjust. If so…hang in there.

Right: Page of Pentacles / Coins. It’s been a steep learning curve for everyone, both in the literal nuts-and-bolts management in a society where things have changed in some way for everyone…and on the emotional / mental / spiritual side of things. We’ve learned our limits and our real needs in ways we never have before. Settle in and make friends with this new knowing.

You Choose: Free Interactive Tarot Reading

Left: Page of Coins. A day for learning practical skills. You don’t have to be perfect right away. It’s more about usefulness and progress than prettiness and perfection.

Middle: Knight of Cups. Emotions are more real, complete, and satisfying when they are constructivly expressed. Don’t just tantrum or gush – make something good come of whatever feeling motivates you today.

Right: Knight of Pentacles. It doesn’t matter if your journey takes you a thousand miles or across the room. Unless you take that first step, you go nowhere.