protection – Sage Words Tarot

Joy and Potential

Be the sparkly fireworks you want to see in the world.

Boom!

Hello and welcome to Sage Words Tarot and the Crystal Cast reading for the week of January 21-28. Happy New Year to our friends celebrating the Spring Festival and year of the yin water rabbit!

I’m still working on the physical mechanics of casting the crystals. Have to admit, this shake and toss and see what comes blowing out of the top of the bag is kind of fun. This one might have been a little overly-enthusiastic on my part. It will take some more practice and experimentation to dial it in. We’ll see how it goes. I’m curious as heck whether or not you all like these crystal reading or not. Good, bad or indifferent, please leave your thoughts and feedback in the comments. Heck, I’d even answer reading questions in the blog comments just for the practice. So have at it. No promises, but if you leave a question, there is a fair to middling chance that I’ll do a crystal reading for it. Which means that podcast people will have to use the link in the show description to leave their questions in the blog comments, but hey, it’s a free psychic reading so what can you say?

Back to these crystals.

The mental image that came when the crystals scattered like this was fireworks. Specifically those extra sparkly ones that glitter and shimmer as the remnants fall. It also reminded me a little bit of those holographic glitter nail polishes. The explosive quality to the energy and the way the crystal felt like they were volcano spewing out the top of the bag is a key point, but the happy glittery shiny celebratory quality to the feel and the energy is the bigger focus. It goes right along with the Lunar New Year celebrations. The sparkle is the thing. Joy and happiness is the fuel for the expansiveness of this week’s energy.

I am reminded of the FDR quote that we have nothing to fear but fear itself. And also the famous Mark Twain quote “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”

This is such a warning against thinking or dwelling on potential problems that I don’t even want to bring it up as a thing to avoid.

The focus is on the sparkle, on the joy.

And it is all inside you.

You are the firecracker. You are the sparkler. This week it is up to you to light the fuse, not wait for external circumstances to do it for you

Don’t let fear be the wet blanket. If you feel it, don’t hold back. Let yourself be an explosion of joy. It’ll help everything go better for you, not to mention elevate the energy and help things go better for everyone around you.

It is said that like attracts like. Think of yourself as a magnet dragging through the week. If you were given the choice, what would you want sticking to you at the end of the week; ridiculous unreasonable happiness in SPITE of everything, or worry and stress BECAUSE of everything?

The visual for that in today’s reading lies in the clear quartz crystal chips. They are a happy sparkling POOF of happy when you look at them intuitively. They are pretty close to being just that literally as well.

The top of the two runes showing is Sowilo, associated with the sun, happiness, light and love. It is an interesting optical coincidence that this particular stone is reflecting light so strongly in the video that it is hard to read the rune.

The other, lower rune is Algiz, which has to do with protection, security, and guidance. It is much easier to feel happy when you feel safe.

Here, too, there is a sense of fearlessness, in a good way. I forget who posted it, but there was an Instagram post a few years ago that has stuck with me. I call it to mind whenever I start to feel any vague or general worry creeping in, especially about stuff that may or may not happen.

The context was a feed about paganism of some sort. They contrasted mainstream or Christian prayer to be protected vs the Germanic pagan mindset of petitioning Odin for the wisdom and strength to be able to protect ourselves.

I prefer the latter point of view.

Why? It just feels better, but also because of compassion.

Which petition has the greater potential to foster compassion? If we seek to be strong and wise, that strength and wisdom can in turn lead to protecting and caring for others. Asking to be pre-emptively protected doesn’t afford that same opportunity.

The desire to grow wise and strong and be a better person is a type of compassion toward oneself.

There are several runestones with their blank side showing. I also read that as potential, as one would expect from any reading that is looking forward. The future is all about seeing the potentials, not making predictions.

Look ahead to this week. Face it with all the courage and happiness you can muster. Light the fuse on a glittering explosion of joy, or at least indulge in a little sparkle. Your little POOF of happiness just might draw the best possible things out of a week full of potential.

Thank you all for reading and listening. Any likes, subs, shares or follows are always greatly appreciated.

Private readings by email are open. Your purchases, memberships and virtual coffees all support the blog and podcast.

Thanks again. Next up for me is the weekly learn to read Tarot post for the members only blog on ko-fi. After that, it is back to the usual Sage’s Sip of Tarot.

See you at the next sip!

CrystalCast 16-23 January ’23

The adage “you never know until you try” is scientific experimentation in a nutshell. Don’t forget what Adam Savage said “Remember kids, the only between screwing around and science is writing it down.”

Hi and welcome to Sage’s Short Sip Tarot. This isn’t Tarot, and it isn’t exactly science, but this is me trying something new and this blog is me writing it down so it counts.

It is a bit of an experiment in progress, but CrystalCasts are back. CrystalCasts are pretty basic and simple. It’s based on a combination of scrying, old school charm casting psychic readings, Crystal Vaults style crystal chip readings, rune stones (I’m particularly inspired by Thom Pham‘s Rune Cards of Mannaz) and some good old fashioned pareidolia. I’ve put together a bag of crystals and rune stones, grab a handful at random, chuck them on my favorite Tarot reading cloth and see what happens.

I wanted to show you the part where I mix the bag to show that it is random. Didn’t expect the reading to spew out of the top like this, but I’m thinking it might be an improvement to keep doing it this way. That removes any unconscious psychomotor element from scattering the things by hand. You don’t know until you try, so let’s try. We’ll certainly be writing it down.

A picture is worth a thousand words of writing down, so if you are listening on the podcast, you might want to check out the photo of the crystals for this week over on the blog. If you put in your email, you’ll get all of the crystalcast post – all of the any kind of posts really – in your email inbox to make it easy for you to see.

The large rectangle thing in the middle is a rough cut, largely raw and uncut, clear quartz bead. As I’ve done more of these readings, that bead is taking on the role of significator, a stand in for self. It’s you. It’s me. It’s the anyone who is reading or listening to this if the reading resonates with you at all.

The dark crystal chips are obsidian, and carry a protective energy. See how they circle the big quartz significator? That gives me a “relax, the universe has your back” feeling. What you focus on is what you draw in. You know how when you are learning to drive they tell you to keep your eyes on the road because where you look is where you go? The same is true for esoteric energies and this is something to pay attention to this week. What you energize is what you call to you. Thinking about something energizes it. Worrying about something can energize it. Don’t call your fears to you. Energize the idea that your protective energies are high this week.

It is a good week for qigong and Reiki and other energy boosting practices if you are into that.

By the same token, see how many of the clear quartz chips are outside of the circle of obsidian chips but – importantly – the clear ones also spiral in toward the large significator bead? This is the opposite side of the same coin. If you can beware of energizing your fears and worries, by the same token you can be aware of energizing positive energies and drawing beneficial things toward you.

In short, this week the energies are protective with an influx of good things if you let it. You go where you look, just like driving a car.

Thanks for reading and listening! There is a ton of free Tarot content including all of the old posts written under the TaoCraft Tarot name on the blog website. Use the search bar in the right hand column to look for Tarot cards or topics. While you are in the right hand column, please consider clicking that white coffee mug and supporting this non-monetized, free to access blog and podcast.

Thanks again! See you at the next sip!

NEW! Crystal Cast Reading

TaoCraft is four years old today, but this new crystal cast reading is today years old today.

My Tarot career isn’t shiny and new, but these readings certainly are.

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

Today is the 4th anniversary of TaoCraft Tarot’s grand opening. Even though I’ve been doing reading cards since the early nineties, publicly under the nicknames Baihu and Modern Oracle since 2003 or so, in 2018 I re-named re-branded and re-launched everything as TaoCraft Tarot. I still hope to re-introduce everything because knowing is more comfortable than not knowing and I want everyone, new and old friends and followers alike, to feel comfortable and at home here.

At four years old, TaoCraft as a whole is like a well used favorite pair of jeans with all of the reasons for the name chang well out of the broom closet, but today I’d like introduce a brand shiny new kind of reading.

New to me, in any case. I’ve never offered these publicly before.

Casting type of divination isn’t new. Throwing coins to gain wisdom from the I ching is an ancient practice. People probably have been doing psychic readings with tossed objects since someone dropped some chicken bones on a patch of dirt. Charm casting had a moment on social media a few years ago. I had a charm reading once. It was – forgive me – charming. There is just no better word for it. At was insightful and helpful and kind which a credit to the reader more than the charms.

Those are all parts of the powerful roots that I hope to bring to the crystal casting experience. For those of you listening on the podcast, you

The unique part of this is not the casting and pure intuitive reading process, the unique part is the stuff I’ve put in my wise woman’s little reading bag of tricks, so to speak. Inspired in part by that charm casting reading, but also by Crystal Vaults crystal readings, Thom Pham’s Rune Cards of Mannaz and Publishing Goblin’s Oracle Dice (which I may add to my literal grab bag once they arrive from the kickstarter in a few months) I’m using black crystal chips for protection, clear quartz crystal chips for clarity and to amplify psychic energy, and lapis lazuli rune stones for wisdom, insight and integrity.

Looking at the example video above (on the blog and podcast website. If you are listening to the podcast I’ll put a link in the show description for you if you’d like to see the example) we see two lines which brings to mind converging paths or converging concerns. On is mostly black chips, the other mostly clear chips, with the two converging in the middle of the scattered chips. I get the impression this is about protecting your vision, guarding your insight until it is the right time. I ‘hear’ … hear meaning that the intuition comes as words instead of mental images … “don’t overshare”. If I apply this to my situation, it reminds me of the whole squirrel rave meme that has been popping up the schedule announcements and all the changes in planning over the spring and summer particularly. The advice is to “play things close to the vest” so to speak. I’ll explain more later, but I’m not going to announce schedules and plans so much anymore so things can adapt and be more agile over all. Oversharing seems like a bad idea in the short term future it seems.

See the X, the Gebo rune? It means gift, generosity, partnership…all hints of being in a flow of good things. The blank side rune hints at potential. I hear “blank slate” with great potential to choose and write the future being present on the path ahead.

See how that works?

I’m offering these at an introductory price until the end of November 2022 then they will cost the same as a one card Tarot reading. Please visit the blog and podcast website for details.

i know it isn’t exactly polite to ask for presents on your own business anniversary. Every year, I break my own rule of no cutsey pants promotions rule and do something to celebrate the deep authenticity and the anniversary of the TaoCraft web name and blog title. This year it was $1 Tarot readings. Now I’m asking for a little treat from you, not tricks involved. If you could comment on the blog or to the blog if your platform supports that – I’d really like to hear from you. What do you think of the crystal casting idea? What do like, hate, or want to see more of here in the blog and podcast? If I could trick or treat at your door tonight, I’d rather hear your thoughts than get a candy.

Thank you all for listening and reading. Thank you all for being here, and making the past four years so worthwhile.

Happy Halloween!

Ace of Cups: Feel the feels

The feeling inside your cup is your feels to feel, they don’t belong to the chaos outside.

What’s in your cup this morning?

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

The Alleyman’s Tarot deck was extra rowdy this morning. It was sliding out of my hands and spewing all over the table after just one shuffle.

Today’s card is the Ace of Cups.

I’m sure it is just because of the great finish on the cards and the fact that I’m not exactly little miss coordination this morning, but it seems like chaos is part of the message today.

Cups have to do with the element of water, so you have all of those metaphors. Of all the properties of water, the movement is what comes to mind. It’s the “water can crash” part of Bruce Lee’s famous “be water my friend” interview. Cups also traditionally symbolize emotions. Another way of understanding the suit of cups is our closest relationships. Nothing touches our emotions like love, romance, marriage, family, children – all of our closest relationships.

The ace always touches on the essence of a suit. The ace of cups today is pointing square at our emotions and emotional state.

It is, after all, storm and hurricane season.

A couple of years ago, at the end of 2019 when the pandemic hadn’t fully hit, I did a series of readings. It seems like the energy environment was ringing everybody’s bell – hard. I must have had at least half a dozen different people say that they were having intense emotions or anxieties that they couldn’t explain which drew them to the reading. In some ways it’s hard to believe that is already two and a half years ago, almost three. In other ways it’s hard to believe that it has been ONLY two and half years ago.

Still, time has passed and that particular storm of emotion and energy has passed right along with it.

The same advice still applies, however.

I’m not talking about true mental health issues here. Those deserve respect, and the skills of a professional. Tarot isn’t for that. It can help, certainly, but Tarot is excellent for coping and gaining insight into normal ups and downs that we all experience at one time or another. Tarot helps all of us surf the crashing waves of human existence.

It’s like the extra slippery-slidey Alleyman’s deck today. Sometimes life just gets chaotic energy sometimes. Over on my personal blog “Sage & Stuff” I call it the squirrel rave after that internet meme that says “I don’t have ducks, I don’t have rows. I have squirrels. And they are having a pagan rave.”

When you are in the middle of a squirrel rave or a hurricane or life’s crashing waves or whatever metaphor you like, the ace of cups is reminding us that our emotions are still our own, regardless of the surrounding slippery crashing chaos. You don’t have to take on the energy and emotions around you.

For some people that is easier than for others. We all have our own unique levels of empathy. We all have our unique levels of stress tolerance. We all have our own individual skin thickness when it comes to stress and emotions.

Which reminds me of a pediatrics lecture I heard a very long time ago where the doctor quoted some sort of old adage along the lines of “some kids are carrots, some kids are eggs. If you put one in hot water it goes to mush, but the other just gets hard boiled.”

Whenever a wave of emotion hits, especially if it feels out of character for you or feels disconnected sometimes it pays to do a little bit of an empathy check or an intuitive sensitivity gut-check.

This is one time where we can bring imagination, visualization and the mind-body connection into play for our benefit.

Imagine this:

Think of something that you can imagine to be protective. This is imagination, so it can be anything. Imagine a shield of energy like a comic book superhero. Imagine a wizard’s invisibility cloak. Or a Faraday cage that real-world screens out electromagnetic signals. I like to think of it akin to Violet’s shield power from the Incredibles Disney-Pixar movie. Imagine you are surrounded by whatever force field invisibility cloak fortress-of-solitude symbol that you chose.

Then do an emotions check. With that protective visualization in place, what are your emotions now? Is that thing you’ve been feeling quieter now, as if it was something outside of you that has been pushing your buttons? Or is it inside your super-shield with you?

It is easy to shrug off difficult emotions and blame it on things like being empathic or mercury in retrograde or whatever. It’s natural to want to keep difficult emotions at arms length at least until a situation settles down or we heal enough to actually deal with them.

There is an up side to it. Sometimes the emotions really are out there and once you sort that out you can get back to being the laid back zen low pressure center of the hurricane.

Sometimes emotions are the tempest in a teapot, all yours to deal with. Sometimes emotions are a storm warning vibrating to let you know what the energy environment holds. The still waters inside your cup are still yours to keep no matter what is on the horizon. Both take courage to keep the cup strong. The emotions inside the cup are your feels to feel either way.

Thank you so much for reading and listening. I appreciate each of you and a special hello and welcome to new subscribers and social media followers. I’m always grateful for any likes, subs, shares, follows, questions or comments that you can spare.

The blog, podcast and youtube channel are not monetized by me: your energy message comes first here, not advertisers’. Please visit the TaoCraft Tarot page on ko-fi where the shop, memberships and virtual coffees all support the creation of this unique (almost) daily Tarot content.

See you at the next sip!

Contemplation: Not just for coffee and morning

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day (or in this case, your evening) in the time it takes to sip from your coffee (or tea or whatever you like)

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

This evening’s card is the four of swords and it couldn’t be more perfect for this flipped schedule post and podcast.

I worked a different than usual shift on the day job…it really was a day job today. I like the evening shift, because I am so very extremely not a morning person. My favorite TV quote is Sheriff Hopper from Stranger Things sushing a secretary saying something like “Mornings are for coffee. And contemplation. Coffee. And contemplation.”

I am grateful for the privilege of starting most weekdays with exactly that, a steaming mug of coffee and spending time in my happy place chair writing Tarot contemplations for the day.

I’d forgotten how nice Tarot can be at sunset.

In the morning readings tend to be a pep talk, giving us a heads up about the energies ahead. Morning Tarot tends to focus on how to do our best work with the energy ahead and make the best choices possible with the physical, mental and spiritual resources we have at hand.

Not everyone has the mighty, mighty caffeine metabolism needed to sip coffee at bedtime. Hot chamomile tea works just as well for Tarot sips. If morning Tarot has a “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” energy, evening Tarot has a introspective, decompressing, emotional processing sort of vibe.

Let’s make this as self referential as possible. Morning Tarot readings have a knight of swords style, while evenings have a – you guessed it – four of swords style.

Take a deep breath. A long, slow quiet breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.

See how Pamela Smith drew the hands of the knight with the tips of the fingers touching. Touching fingers is an actual energy thing. What do you do when you are deep in thought. Do you touch your fingers like the card, touch your chin, run your fingers through your hair or something else? Give it a try. Adopt that posture, whatever it is for you. How do you feel? Does the physical change help you quiet the mental noise and stress of the day at all?

If you don’t know your particular physical tell that shows when you are in deep thought, try this: Unless you are driving or something, lace your fingers together. Keep them laced and rest your hands however is comfortable. This is said to seal your aura and stabilize your energies.

I like to think of this as a psychic emotional faraday cage. A Faraday cage is a container or enclosure that protects anything inside from electromagnetic energy from the outside. Imagine that while your fingers are interlaced it blocks out stress or any empathic influences from other peoples energies. Imagine that while your fingers are laced, your inner world is quiet, isolated from outside stress. Imagine that you can hear your own inner wisdom, feel your own emotions, all with perfect clarity and understanding.

If you try it, please let me know in the comments. I’d be interested to know if it works for you, and what you experienced with this simple little exercise.

Take that deep breath, lace your fingers. Now, how was your day? What is your energy level? What emotions do you feel? Does anything bubble up to top of mind wanting your attention? Is there anything inside your emotional faraday cage that needs to be kicked out of the door and dealt with on another day?

The hands on the four of swords card is our hint for this evening. It’s a small, harmless physical gesture that can help you find some evening style contemplation.

Contemplation isn’t just for mornings and coffee. Contemplation, like Tarot, is a soothing sip any time of day.

Thank you so much for listening!

If you enjoy these Tarot sips, please visit the TaoCraft Tarot page on Ko-fi. None of these videos, blog posts or podcast episodes are monetized, so the ko-fi shop, memberships and virtual coffees support the creation of this free to access Tarot content.

As far as I can tell, things back to the usual squirrel rave playlist of a schedule. Short sip posts and podcasts are on weekdays, usually much earlier than this one. There are at least 6 posts of exclusive members-only content on the ko-fi blog per month. Email readings are open all the time so you can purchase them anytime (delivery times vary a bit.) Your questions and comments are welcome and appreciated.

Now it is time for me to have a real world cuppa tea. See you at the next sip!

Tesla coils and the Ringing Bell

Today’s “sip of tarot” card was the Chariot.

I’ve been thinking some more about it, so I guess today we are getting a whole cuppa Tarot here on the blog. This is one of those print/blog only posts exclusive to the website I’ve been yammering about. I hope you’ll take a look at / give a listen to the new “sip of tarot” (almost) daily one card meditation readings that are all over the place too. Besides all that, I’m feeling very fond of the Chariot card today. It’s energy is pointing toward mindfulness more than mere attention.

Mindfulness is not only consecrating and connecting but it is protective, healing and self-saving on the esoteric level. Here’s what I mean:

Many people who are drawn to Tarot (or any psychic/intuitive style) readings tend to have an above-average degree of energy sensitivity themselves. In late 2019 and early 2020 I had a long run of clients and blog readings that focused on resonant energy. It’s one of those physics things that I may not explain well. The best example I know came from being in the room during a violin lesson. When one string is pressed correctly to make a certain note, when you play that string, a nearby open (untouched) string that is tuned to that note will vibrate too. If you correctly press an E string to make it sound a G note, the open, untouched G string will vibrate and sound a little bit too.

Intuitive, energy sensitive people people will resonate with communal, cultural, zeitgeist energies much like the G note open string vibrates along with the fretted-to-make-it-a-G-note string in the violin example.

Pay attention when that happnes.

On the physical level, pain is a signal that something is wrong. All sorts of physical symptoms can signal a problem.We pay attention to those, or at least we should. If the danger is high enough, our reflexes will pay attention for us.

The same is true in the emotional realm. Feelings of something being off or wrong or troubling are worth your attention just as much as physical symptoms. The tricky thing, especially if you are energy sensitive, is knowing when a bubble of emotion is a genuine internal state that needs your attention when that thing you feel is actually a resonant vibration, a response to external energies.

When you are a professional reader, knowing that boarderline is part of the job. Take it from someone who has been paying conscious deliberate attention to that boundary line between internally generated feelings and externally sources resonance for a looong time – it’s HARD to do. It’s easy to think that funky mojo feeling is all you, and equally as easy to blame your stuff on the outside world (looking at you Mercury-retrograde-o-phobics)

It’s hard, but isn’t the place for blame, either. The trope of “setting boundaries” tends to feel like blame or fault or failure if one energy is mistaken for the other. That isn’t the case. From one point of view, those boundaries are just arbitrary. Our inner emotions are part of the outside whole just like we as individuals are a seamless part of the entire wholeness of the Cosmos. No matter how much we might wish otherwise, the outer world does have an effect. The mind-body connection flows both ways.

So how do you know when your bell is ringing for your attention or when the outer world is a hammer ringing your bell?

Protect.

Think of that boundary between inner emotion and outer resonance as a protective layer rather than a border fence. That is especially helpful when the uncertain feelings are frightened or anxious, as was the case early in 2020 pandemic an lock-downs. For a sensitive, the fear and worry of that time was almost palpable.

The energy has indeed shifted. More on the out-there social zeitgeist energies another time.

Imagination is fuel for intuition. Visualization is imagination in overdrive. Imagine…visualize that there is something surrounding you and insulating you from outside influences.

One way to think of it is like a force field or energy shield in science fiction. Or think of it like Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak. Or a tent or room or cave that you can go into. Here is a fun one for you science and physics folks – a Faraday cage. Metal cages isolate the equipment inside them from stray radio waves. Or the metal cages that contain tesla coil arcs (like “Arc Attack“)

But anyway….the next time you feel worried, or anxious, or just not yourself, or that things are just feel off and you can’t figure out why – imagine you are surrounded by your energy-isolating protection layer of choice.

If it is outside cultural group energy ringing my bell, then the imagined shield feels good. It feels like a sigh of relief. I remember the first time it worked for me. I’ll spare you the details, but I was faced with a barrage of negativity and a legit stressful family-in-the-hospital stress.

You know that feeling when the neighbor stops using the leaf blower and there is a sudden, jarring, blissful silence? It’s kind of like that. My first thought was HEY!! It’s actually HAPPY in here! In that moment, you know it is the outside and not an internal emotional injury.

If you imagine eliminating the outside influence, but still feel something is off. Pay even more attention. But for goodness’ sake don’t take that as personal blame….take it as a hint to get help or at least do some serious self-care.

It isn’t a 100% guarantee either way, but it is a helpful mental exercise. Since that experience of shutting out the waves of negativity for a little while, it is my go-to visualization/meditation when things feel a little hairy. It refocuses my attention away from the stress and on the here and now. If it’s happy “in here” then it’s just resonant funky mojo and will pass. If it is gnarly “in here” then it’s time to do something, although that will often pass too.

Today’s Tarot: Protect the Treasure

Today is a blustery kind of day for our card’s energy.

Some skeptics dismiss intuition and its tools like Tarot because the card meanings are vague and inconsistent. They are, but not because they are invalid, but because they are ephemeral. The cards are an ever-adapting look at ever-changing energies from one point of view within the flow of time. They are a localized look at a larger, fluid, energetic, dynamic system. That’s why they guide rather than predict. Saying Tarot is invalid because of inconsistent or vague card meanings is like saying the weather report is wrong because it changes every day.

Tarot is a creative prompt, not an immutable law of the universe.

So which prompt, which card meaning is right for you of all people and today of all days? THAT is where tools like Tarot, runes, numerology, astrology, etc meet their limit. They help us access our innate intuition, but they can never substitute for it. The image that comes to mind is a little like dry leaves in a whirlwind. There is a blustery swirl of meanings and energies here. Only you can know which leaf to grab out of the whirlwind of potential meanings. The word ‘local’ steps forward too. The local energy and mood is the one that needs our attention today. Today the card’s guidance is to focus on the treasure within and to trust your own understanding – even more than usual.

In other words the card’s message today is exactly that to trust and protect the inner treasure of your own good intuition. Intuition is usually the purview of cups cards and the water element, but in this case it is more about the protection (an earth element energy) and solid trust more than talking about the intuition itself.

It’s about the the real world, practical protection and application of your intuition. It’s a meatspace thing to borrow from William Gibson’s writing.

The four of pentacles has a variety of meanings. The four part can be associated with steadiness and stability, like the four legs of a chair or table. That’s where we get the protective, steady, trustworthy connotations for the card. I’m told that Chinese culture avoids fours because the word for four sounds like the word for die (but with different characters and tonal pronunciation) I wonder if that – energetically more than culturally or linguistically – is a connection to the more negative connotations for the four of pentacles like greed, and unwarranted miserliness.

Either way, try to think of the physical space actions that your intuition may need today. Do you need to set some atmosphere to help you hear the quiet whispers of intuition and spirit? Is this the day to get that incense or candle you’ve been saving for a special day? Is this the day to unplug from social media and find some physical quiet in order to feed your inner quiet? Many times we have a tendency to relagate those tangible actions to certain days of the week, or phases of the moon or what have you. Don’t wait. Do for your intuition. Guard it, protect your inner self from any toxic people or energies that may be lurking. The leaf for you from today’s whirlwind of meanings might be to reflect, like a bright coin…reflect or disperse any negative or toxic energies away from you. I suggest Ted Andrew’s excellent book Psychic Protection as well as the protective exercises in Mat Auryn’s recent book Psychic Witch (whether you consider yourself to be a part of the pagan or witch community or not, it is still a good, helpful visualization.) Black tourmaline comes to mind as a protective energy to wear or carry. It’s a do your homework kind of day. Part of the message is that it is up to you to look at the local energies and act to protect your inner energies and intuition if needed.

When the energy start repeating and going in circles like this, that is a good cue that the essential message is complete. I see a bow in deference to your knowing.

This is a start. This is a prompt. Now it is up to you to connect and protect. Connect to your intuition, connect your intuition to your individual real world situation, and protect your energy.

YouChoose Interactive Tarot: Leading Indicators

“There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts.” – Richard Bach

It’s not the no-pentacles thing.

Do you feel it? It isn’t over. The whole pandemic energy is still there, not the buzzing initial panic, but a low key, solid comfortable existential dread. From a place of both logic AND intuition – the switch flipping open the economy folks are insane. It is not time to go whole hog. We need to keep doing what we are doing a few more weeks. Even then there should be limits and cautions and this is nowhere near over until there is a vaccine.

There is a leading indicator shift in the energy, akin to the resonance of panic and the foreboding ping that came in February and the run up to stay at home orders. This is advance planning. This is a nudge to think about what you are going to do or not do when official restrictions change. Trust me, the work from home freelancer….you don’t HAVE to go out if you don’t want to.

This reading, as a group of three, is about the good things this problem of staying in has brought, and once again this is more for the privileged than for those essential workers in the thick of this. They have bigger fish to fry than the getting and giving of Tarot readings. This is about “This is your chance to appreciate this while you have a chance before this opportunity goes away” This group of cards remind us to take whatever small gifts and good memories from the quarantine with us when it is all, finally and later, over.

Left: Two of Cups. This card, in normal times, is about marriage and other meaningful long term relationships. This is about holding on to long distance friendships that may have been forged online during social distancing. This is about the relationships that were strengthened or stretched to the limit being quarantined together. Think about what relationships have proven themselves to really matter over the past couple of months and think about which ones, if any, have proven themselves to be unnecessary. In short, trim and nurture where needed, cherish the precious from now on.

Center: Knight of Wands. Act on your passions. The rah-rah “toxic positive” vibe was way ahead of this curve. You still l don’t have to achieve or do anything except make it through, day by day. It wasn’t time yet, for many people, to do that spring cleaning or do their equivalent of Shakespeare writing King Lear during the plague. If you have some pet project or dreams to pursue, the energies are turning more toward that. Comfort yourself and those around you, yes. You will need that strength later. But the energies are shifting so it is easier for us to shift from hold-and-survive to once again chasing the dream.

Right: Eight of Swords. We are still trapped. It isn’t time to fully move yet. Now is the time for planning and creative problem solving. The energies may not have started to shift for you. If you have been thinking of these times as prison, now is the time to see them as protection. What do you need to guard that you haven’t seen? Where have you let your guard down….either getting your shields up too late, or dropping them too early?

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Taraffirmation #11

Q&A: Light Housekeeping

Q: Do you do house cleansing or clearing? I will be moving into a new house, and I was told a man had been murdered there. I want someone to come to the house and take a reading of it and to respectfully help him or anyone move on. To answer your question, no, nothing has happened to make me think he or any other spirits may be stuck there, but there is one area that has a strong feeling of sadness. I did burn some sage, but it didn’t seems to help. Is there anything you can do?

A: That isn’t my area of expertise. I deal with spiritual guidance for living folks, not so much the not living ones. The one person I knew who did do this sort of work has moved away from our area. Since you want someone to come to the location, unfortunately all I can do is suggest that you continue your google search.

In the meantime, I do know some basics that you can do for yourself that might help. I’ve used them in the past for different applications, not this particular kind of clearing, so I can’t make any promises. They worked so well for other energy clearing, since you don’t think you have a full on haunting, it might be all you need to settle in to a new space and make that new house a home.

That was a great idea to start with sage. It is, in my experience, very calming, soothing, grounding, centering, balancing, comforting and protective. Whether it did anything for the sad feeling energy or not, at the very least it would help you to feel calm and protected as you do your clearing work.

Sage, black salt, ground eggshells and all of that are helpful for protection, yes, but it seems you need something to clear first…then you can move back to the protective measures.

Think of it this way, putting a doormat outside of your door will help keep new mud from being tracked into the house, but it won’t do anything about the footprints already on the floor.

My intuition is that you need something brighter, expansive, clearing and dispelling. My hunch is salt, sound and lemon. In aromatherapy, citrus scents are believe to be clearing, cleansing, energizing and very high vibration. Any residual energy of the sad, tragic kind you describe is low vibration and would need that extra boost in order to clear, to move out. High vibration measures is like mopping the old footprints off the floor after you put the doormat out.

I suggest a three step treatment for the whole house if you can manage it…or the area where you sense the sadness at the very least.

First do normal, ordinary, mundane cleaning. Just like ordinary spring cleaning as anyone would before moving in. Second, mist all the rooms, especially around windows and all doorways, corners too if you feel they need it. Make a lemon salt water mist with filtered or spring water, a pinch of salt, and either some lemon essential oil or a little lemon juice. The scent doesn’t have to be strong and just a pinch of salt will do when you are doing energy-level work like this. After you clean and mist, ring a small bell or chime in each room or use one of those “singing bowls” if you prefer.

Once you have done the energy-raising cleansing, then you can protect with sage or a sprinkle of salt/black salt/ground eggshell powder at the entry doorways to help keep the energy clear.

After all of that, you could really put the frosting on the cake and have someone bless or dedicate the home. A good old fashioned housewarming party might help too…housewarming really is a good name for it. Friends and family having a pleasant time together truly can raise the energy of a space and make it feel like home. f

If you would like to go more in depth, I suggest reading Psychic Protection by Ted Andrews. It is an excellent resource.

Like I said, I’m no expert in this particular topic. If I learn anything new, I’ll post it here in the blog for you. Don’t forget to subscribe by email so you don’t miss new posts or the special offers coming later in the year.

Thanks for the great question! Sorry I couldn’t be more help. I’d be interested to know if you try this and how it works for you. I hope it works as well for you.

All Best Wishes