Tag: queen of Wands

Path Forge

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today features the Queen of Wands and forging your own path forward

TaoCraft Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Available most weekdays here, on the podcast, Instagram reels and YouTube #Shorts.

Today’s Card is the Queen of Wands.

Historic realities about queen aside, in Tarot Queens are leaders. Today the image that comes to mind is a unique and strong leader akin to a Boudica or Elizabeth the First sort of figure. This is not a person to be messed with. As I read them, the Queen and King cards are two sides of the same coin. Queens and Kings are the yin and yang of leadership. The king protects the boundaries facing outward and the queen organizes, inspires and nurtures the inner kingdom.

Wands have to do with the element of fire and the inner world, which translates to creativity and passions.

Very often queen cards turn up for people who are actively engaged in caring professions. Absolutely the advice is to care for oneself. Our caretaker are the ones who we want to have the strength and mental, emotional and physical reserves and resources to continue their vital work. At the same time, they are the ones most likly to overextend, and some of the most vulnerable to burnout. In a rare social conversation with a physician, I’ve learned that the pandemic is as crushing and exhausting to healthcare providers as it is portrayed on the news. I didn’t intend for this to veer into a public service announcement, but please do every little thing you can to keep yourself healthy so they don’t have to do it for you in a bigger way.

That being said, in this age of the pandemic, the notion of self-care and trying to protect the care-takers is a constant undercurrent with the queen of wands card.

Today, however, another energy steps forward as well. It has that “step up” strength and leadership quality that all of the queen and king cards posses. It is akin to that notion of taking care of the caretakers by lessening their load by being responsible for yourself. But it is a little more abstract than public health.

Today’s energy is about your inner passions, whatever they may be, and independence.

Following your dreams isn’t easy. Sometimes it exacts a high price in the form of independent creativity. You would expect the word “forge” to step forward with a swords card, but today the word isn’t very literal. In this case the word “forge” is pointing toward the act and process of creating something brand new from raw materials. The energy is about something cut from whole cloth as they say…if you’ll pardon the mixed metaphors. Forges and cloth don’t mix well in real life.

For our purposes, it is a little more apt. The fire and flames imagery offers a hint at the kind of dream following the card is pointing toward. This is no ordinary goal. Beyond some misty, ill-defined aspiration this is talking about your passion.

It’s not about some burning, all-consuming enthusiasm about the thing in the moment. It is about the effect the object of your passion has on you. What is it that lights you up and makes you happy? What is it that, to your mind, makes sense out of everything else? What is the one thing that makes you feel like it is all worth while?

Anything that improves the quality of life that much might ask a lot in return. Finding and following a passion that gives you happiness and meaning to life can exact a high price. The price it asks is nothing less than asking you to create something brand new. It asks you to carve out your own path and forge ahead, very often independently and on your own.

Right now the energy isn’t so much focused on the diadactic steps or about how you forge the path to following your passion. Right now, the first step is to be clear about what that passion really is. Second, think about the personal and emotional costs to following your passion. You may well be asked to act independently, responsibly, and alone. That kind of independent creativity is the flame in which life paths are forged.

Thank you so much for reading, listening and watching today’s short sip Tarot. Short sip readings and other Tarot content is available here, on the TaoCraft Tarot podcast, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and more. I appreciate your support through likes, subs, shares, follows as well as the virtual coffee mug and memberships on Ko-fi. Thanks again and I’ll see you at the next sip.

The video features the heart of stars tarot deck by thom pham, used with his kind permission. For a limited time you can order this unique deck at the heart of stars tarot website.

Clarity of the Inner Voice

Back from a long weekend, normal hours the test of this week…email distance tarot, no appointment needed MOST readings delivered within 12 hours. Fastest service is daytime weekdays US eastern time. In-person individual sessions ard back, all the usual policies and restrictions apply, details HERE

YouChoose Interactive Tarot: July 12-19

It’s still summer allergy season, and my voice is showing it today. This week, the YouChoose Interactive reading is going to be a hybrid of blog post and YouTube video like we usually do during the week for the “Today’s Tarot” posts.

But it works the same. Pick a card. Choose on impulse, or if you want more time, pause the video then restart to see the reveal. Try not to read ahead if you want the full interactive, just-for-you experience.

Either way, even if you get a glimpse of the writing below, at least you know that this post, like all of them, is a reflection of a real-life, real-cards, random card drawing. Just like my InkMagic handwritten pen-and-paper Tarot readings, you get the best of both worlds: old school physical cards meets the convenience of internet access.

It doesn’t happen often, but two of the cards are reversed. If you pick one of them, please read this post about card reversals along with the short reading about this week’s energy for you.

Left: King of Swords. The energy here matches with the air-element, mentality & intellect connotations of the card. There isn’t as much of an outward leadership energy. It is more of inward sense of responsibility. Be a leader of yourself, for yourself…the king of your inner world. The cutting edge of the sword comes to attention and I hear “cut away the chaff” Cut through the noise and unnecessary details “cut to the chase” and get to the heart of the matter this week. It’s a good time for root cause analysis.

Center: Queen of Wands (reversed). Don’t hold back the joy. Celebrate your authentic self, and be joyful in other people’s authentic self expression too. Related post: Something Fabulous This Way Comes.

Right: Nine of Pentacles (reversed) Don’t draw things out past their prime – bring this puppy in for a landing. There is an energy of wrapping up, gathering up or gathering in. Pick up the leftovers and fall out and take inventory of all you have on hand. Sweeping up the confetti, and seeing how much glitter is left can help you plan your next parade. Finish, put the final touches and polish on a project. Finish something well and on a high note in order to build a good feeling and strong foundation for your next project or the next big phase of something in progress. Lots of career and work energy around this card.

Today’s Tarot: Something Fabulous This Way Comes

Drag queens are the best

It was years ago, but once I was hired to do Tarot readings for a local theater group’s party. The group included a few drag performers. I don’t know if any of them enjoyed the Tarot readings, but by the time it was all said and done I was happy to my absolute core. The energy in the room was bright and glittering and it was an honor to work with all of them. Everyone there was the definition of fabulous.

If it is OK with them, give a drag queen a hug and return some of the good vibes they so naturally and generously give. It will make your day.

Today’s card reminded me of that experience, which turned my thinking toward joyous, jubilant, glorious, gleeful, authentic self expression.? What would happen if we expressed ourselves TO ourselves with all the exuberance and fun of a drag cabaret?

Some people are natural extroverts and performers. No matter what their art form may be…theater, dance, film, live music….performing is the air that they breath and sometimes their livelihood too. For the rest of us, performance is more stress-inducing than life-giving. But, I wonder, what if we spent a little time expressing our authentic selves in a performance for an audience of one…oneself that is.

How would your day (or evening) be if you allowed yourself a little time to bask in your own quiet, queenly fabulousness. Find one darn little thing that you like about yourself and wallow in it. Amp it up as high the hairdo on an episode of Drag Race and BE fabulous, at least in your own mind just for a few minutes.

Now take that feeling of fabulousness and use it to fuel your connection to life, to love, to compassion, to everyone you care about.

In less time than it takes to paint your nails, something fabulous this way comes.

Today’s Tarot: No Grinchy Grudge

Connect to the life inside a task, connect to the fun and joy of a thing and it becomes easy. Begrudging what you do for others adds a ton of weight. Whatever you may do for others, there is something somewhere for. Cook a meal and you get something to eat too. Arrange a game for the kids, and you get to play too…or a moment to take deep breath while they do. “Either way, what bliss!”

YouChoose Interactive Tarot: Knuckle Down, Buckle Up and Get Cozy

Interactive Tarot Reading: You choose the card, guidance for the week ahead.

It’s that time of year where time flies by far, far to fast. How is everyone feeling on the energy side of things? I don’t know why the general America-energy has come in so many weather metaphors this year, but that continues. It feels like there has been a shift. From a map with lots of scattered tornadoes all over the place, to hurricanes on the horizon, to now a snowstorm. There is such enormous relief about the election, combined with such grief and anxiety about the pandemic. It is like admiring the beauty of a deep snow while worrying what you’ll do if the electricity goes out and if there will be enough food if you get snowed in. It’s an odd energy as I read the cards today, underneath each cards message. That being said, let’s get to those cards. Pause the video if you want to take a moment, then restart to see the reveal, or just pick a card on impulse. Here we go…

Left: King of Pentacles. Kings are always to some degree about leadership. Pentacles or Coins are earth element, down to earth, practical and real-world, nut-and-bolts level stuff. There is a big sense of protection or protective energy. First impulse is to say protect what you have, budget or anything really, err on the conservative side given the choice. Here is why it really helps for the YouTube videos and the blog here to compliment each other. My brain really is hard wired to be a writer, I suppose. Keyboards and pens really do hotwire right in to a deeper intuition some days. This is one of those days. I missed it earlier but there is a sense of spirit guide or guardian angel or something on that order. There is a second sub-wave here. In addition to the obvious physical – realm message, there is a reassurance that you are among the protected. Even when the money and physical realm aspect of things seem terrible, there is an esoteric protection, a heart protection. “Where there is Love” comes through here. You are connected and protected and loved on a deep esoteric, energetic, subtle emotional/mental level of things. Reach for that, if nothing else this week.

Center: Seven of Pentacles. “You reap what you sow” is both a threat and a promise. Sow bad seeds, give neglect, and that is what you will harvest…but inherant to that is the promise that there WILL be a harvest of some kind if you but plant the seed, good or bad.

Like was said earlier, I do sense a shift in energies. It’s not the red lights and sirens, ring every single empath’s bell sort of energy from last winter. This is more a crazy swirl of often contradictory energies. In my mind’s eye I see the general zeitgeist energy as just that…big snowflakes in the wind of a night time snow storm (stay safe all of you in the midwest that are / have recently experienced this for real)

The advice is clearly to plant and plan. Prepare for the weather to break on the energy level of things. Hold the space open for what you hope to achieve. There is sense of movement, almost like a roller coaster. Hang on, the turn, the shift the end to stagnation is coming. Be ready. Be ready to plant when the moment is right, because things are likely to grow quickly if you do.

Right: Queen of Wands. Queen cards embody leadership too, but a much more nurturing kind. While the King defends the boarders, the queen makes sure there is enough food. That isn’t to say historical, actual, monarchies worked that way…Tarot is symbolic and archetypal. Classically, the message is one of self-care to build the strength and reserves to care for others, but today the energy is more nesting, home-and-hearth, “facilitate the cozy.” In this iteration, it is care, for self and others and everyone within cookie flinging distance. Whether you are male or female, this week is your chance to shop smart, buy the extra milk and toilet paper and put the kids in front of a Christmas special with a bowl of popcorn, pour yourself a cup of mulled something or another and put your feet up. You can do it. You got this. You are the Queen of Cozy this week.

Thanks for reading and watching. If you would like to unleash the hot-wired keyboard intuition brain onto an email reading just for you, you can order any time 24/7 on the HOME page.

YouChoose Interactive Tarot 14-19 Sept. 2020

Whew! At last. Our weather forecast finally includes some cooler nights, the first hint at my favorite time of year.

It is still that re-branding anniversary season, and the one card Tarot reading giveaway continues until Halloween. All you need to do to get the FREE reading is use the contact form on the special offers page.

Please stay tuned to the blog. More re-introduce-TaoCraft-anniversary season “Portfolio” posts are on the way.

Left: Queen of Wands. All queen cards represent leadership from a care-taking and nurturing standpoint. While kings were out defending the kingdom, the queens would care for the welfare of the subjects. From a more contemporary standpoint, this is like parenting, teaching and caring for other people. I see this card often in readings for caretakers like health care workers, teachers and so on. It often serves as a reminder to take care of yourself too. You are not as helpful or effective as a leader (of any type) if you are burned out and exhausted. This isn’t a call to over-indulgence, but it is permission to grab a nap, take a few minutes to meditate, indulge in that half hour online yoga class…that sort of thing.

Center: Ten of Wands. The Ten of Wands is as much short term encouragement as the Queen of Wands is advice for a marathon. The queen is lifestyle…the ten is looking at the short term situation. It’s a grind, and going to be that way for just a little while more. Ten is the largest of the number cards and is often associated with completion. I think of it as being similar to a ‘changing line’ in I Ching readings. In Taoist thought and the I Ching, anything in its most extreme holds the seed of the opposite, is primed and on the verge of a shift, a little like going over the top part of a Ferris wheel ready to go around again. The ten of wands, as the artwork suggests, is related to feeling overburdened or stressed. It’s not quite over yet. Sometimes this card asks you to evaluate what you should put down and what is needed to carry – a sort of a ‘thin your sticks’ idea. In this case, for this week, it is more of a ‘grind it out’ feeling. There is a sense of something nearing completion, so hang in there, do the do, grind the grind and soon you’ll be able to just toss the whole load down, job well done.

Right: Queen of Pentacles. There is something very similar in energy between this card and the Queen of Wands. I suspect it is also related to self-care, but with a different spin. Pentacles are related to the element earth and the practical, physical realm . This card brought several old adages to mind, heavy on the Benjamin Franklin. “A penny saved is a penny earned” makes me think that if you chose this card, this isn’t a week for impulse buys or unnecessary spending. At the same time, “penny wise and pound foolish” came through and in hand with the other advice. Don’t impulse buy, but don’t fail to invest in something good and needed. The energy around that part is about quality and value. Make the calculation between cost and quality. It brings to mind all of the DIY, low plastic and refillable products that the algorithms have figured out I like and are now filling up my socials…it costs more up front, but saves money in the long run. That is the kind of budgeting and money-wise thinking the card is suggesting. “Cleverness” and “Shrewd thinking” comes through too. Use your head in money matters this week. Be clever, not miserly.

Overall, three cards together, nurture your leadership, whichever style fits your situation the best. Take care of your self as you go along to keep yourself strong and well for the long haul. Grind through if you need too, then take time to recover when it is all said and done before you pick up your next project or obligation. Or works smarter, not harder. Use cleverness and wise investment to take care of yourself and those who depend on you.

Today’s Tarot: It’s all good, even the bad.

It’s OK to be OK. It’s OK to not be OK. It’s not OK to pretend.

“The only sin in any of that is in the pretending”

Tuesday afternoon, I watched the secular coalition panel discussion at the Democratic convention. I wish I’d written down the details of the story, who told told it, who it was about, but it didn’t occur to me. The anecdote struck a very personl chord with me. Other than the quote above, the details have escaped.

The speaker told of an atheist friend of his who told his devoutly religious father of his non-belief. He listed all the things so important to the friend’s family that the 20 year old friend could no longer honestly do because he thought it was all, well, BS. He expected anger, hurt or worse from his father, who simply stood, gave the man a hug and told him the only sin in any of his rejections is in the pretending. It would be a far worse offense to pretend to believe, to go through empty motions.

The same idea is true of emotions in general. Queen cards represent a caretaking and nurturing kind of leadership (contrasted with the protective leadership of a King) while Wands cards have to do with the inner world, and the element of fire…our inner passions, emotions, spirituality, beliefs.

The only sin is in the pretending.

This speaks to “toxic positivity” as some are calling it. You could also call it emotional dissonance, or even outright denial. Like most things, it is a two way street.

You can’t manage stress unless you admit it exixts in the first place. You can’t fix the problem until you honestly acknowledge that it is there and begin to understand the real nature of things. Pessimism isn’t always helpful. But neither is seeing the wold through rose colored glasses. Both add to problems. You have to stare reality in the face to deal with what actually is happening.

AND you have to stare your own heart and emotions in the face to accept and acknowledge what they are too. Emotions aren’t good, bad, positive, negative or indifferent, unless we assign that quality to them. It reminds me of that quote from the movie Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. “Fear is just a feeling. You feel hot. You feel hungry. You feel angry. You feel afraid. Fear can never kill you.”

Wise words, even if it comes from pulp fiction. It’s ok to feel what you feel. The feelings won’t hurt you. It’s the stupid shit we do in the name of those feelings that cause problems or make existing problems worse.

So yes, by all means, it’s ok to be ok.

It’s just as ok to not be ok.

But it’s not ok to pretend.