I wonder how everyone out there in the world is feeling about Valentine’s day. The pandemic is obviously throwing a big monkey wrench in the ‘hallmark holiday’ go out and eat, cards and flowers aspect of the thing. I’m personally more interested on trolling for on-sale leftover chocolate at the mega-mart the on the 15th.
In the huge big picture of things, Valentines Day has become a big commercialized nothing-burger. If you really love someone, any day is a good day to show a token of your affection. I’d say surprising them with it on any other day except Valentines Day would be more fun. Although I’m down with dinners out and heart shaped boxes of chocolates. It’s cool. In these times where indoor gatherings with ANYONE you don’t already live with is an open invitation to mutant viruses that could kill you (or someone you care about) Valentines Day takes on a new importance in that it is a good excuse to communicate with anyone and everyone you know. So fire up those sappy cards and emails – heck, send ’em a .gif. It’s whole usefulness in modern culture has been a reminder to express affection for those for whom we feel affection anyway. And cheap chocolate.
In the whole big picture of things, Valentines Day gives a nod to something big and important in our human existence: love, romance and heart to heart connections of every kind.
How distance Tarot really is just as good as in-person.
I’ve spent the past few days tweeking the website, making sure the links work and the information is up to date. Feel free to browse around the site. There is a search block in the right hand column on laptop view. Mobile users scroll WAAAYYYY down to get to it (why not give the blog a follow while you are there?)
While doing that, I stumbled across the question of how distance readings can work as well as in-person readings. It is still a very relevant topic as we move into Fall, it is STILL pandemic 2020 and doing things at a distance is just as important as ever (wear a mask and wash your hands too!)
Incoming intuition and psychic impressions come to me the same way no matter what kind of reading we do. The message comes from the universal life energy that is everywhere all at the same time, like gravity. THAT’s what I’m reading, not you or your aura or anything that requires us to be in close proximity. I read the energy for you in the same way, no matter if I say the message in person, say it into a phone, say it into a mic, write it on a piece of paper or type it into a document. Typing is my favorite to do. When I use a keyboard, the words flow easier and with a lot more style and finesse. That’s why I say distance Tarot is my specialty. I type as well as I speak . To be perfectly honest, I write BETTER than I speak most days. To be perfectly honest, I write better than I speak EVERY day if it is before coffee.
But in the end, especially after a couple of cups of the morning brew, it all works the same. I give what I get, and your intuitive message is EXACTLY the same (give or take a few style points) no matter whether you read it or listen to it.
AND don’t forget the free Tarot by email giveaway in celebration of TaoCraft Tarot’s anniversary month ends tomorrow, so now’s your chance if you want to try one. Get your request in before midnight (eastern time) 31 October 2020.
Stay safe. Be well. Stay home. Order covid-safe Tarot readings by email. Wear a mask. And wash your hands.
Hello and welcome to a new week. Fall colors are near their peak here. The forecast is for a lovely rainy day this evening and tomorrow, so am hoping to knit a bit. The last couple of weeks have been a giant maelstrom of energy for intuitives and sensitives. So thankful for Twitter friends who were willing to share their sense of it. No matter how experienced you are, everyone can benefit from a little “whew! It’s not just me camaraderie. I’ve had to unplug a little bit just to stay centered. This week feels like it might be shifting, thankfully. The theme is bittersweet and bravery.
As always, pick a card. Pick on impulse, or take a moment and deep breath to clear your mind and choose the card that calls to you. If you need a minute, feel free to pause the video and restart to see the reveal.
Left: Eight of Cups. “Things end. That’s all. Everything ends, and it’s always sad. But everything begins again too, and that’s… always happy.” as Steven Moffet wrote for Doctor Who. The Eight of Cups is very much like that. Walking away from something that is toxic or broken or just didn’t work out or a moderately bad idea. There is change and loss and sadness and ending both in admitting that a thing is broken or wrong, but also in the leaving of it. It is a necessary heartbreak that is welcome in the healing that it ultimately brings. If none of that makes sense to you, simply take this as a reminder to take out the trash, or do a little light housekeeping. SOMEthing needs to be let go.
Center: Four of Cups. As long as we are doing TV and movie quotes, this card reminds me of “Peace be the journey” from Cool Runnings. Supporting someone isn’t necessarily rapid fire platitudes, unsolicited advice or saying something. Sometimes the greater love is a silent presence. The energy here is very introspective. You wouldn’t go into a temple blasting an airhorn. When someone else is hurting and introspective, quiet and also-introspective might be the best way to help. Cups are water and intuition. You’ll know when to sit with emotions and when to cheer or use humor. The best advice is sometimes none at all. Perhaps your calling isn’t to fix things, but rather to bring a peaceful presence to this week’s journey.
Right: The other two cards have an element of the bittersweet endings or some sort of melancholy met with bravery. If you chose this card, you might need just need the bravery kind of bravery. This card is about old fashioned stick-whomping competition. There is strong advice energy around this card. Your quote is from Zen and the Martial Arts by Joel Hyams “The angry man will defeat himself in battle as well as in life.” Brave and angry are not the same thing.
The Five of Penticals still points very strongly to the physical realm. When I do these readings, it is with the intent of reading the general energies and hopefully giving a reading that is thought provoking or in some way helpful to the broadest audience possible.
Today there is a sense of a three way split, with a slightly different idea for each group.
Again, at least here in the U.S. the pandemic is the top of mind issue and the dominant energy. All three, however, reming of long winters. We are in the late January equivalent of this energy wave. We are in the dark heart of a long and lingering winter, do to speak.
Some may feel cautiously optimistic. You are right, this will end, but for a long while and not with rainbows and unicorns you might think. Nurture that optimism, it is like a flower poking up through the snow. But don’t get too carried away just yet. Temper and balance that optimism with realism and practicality. This isn’t over yet. Don’t panic, things will change, but at their pace, not ours. Plan in case scarcity last longer than you think.
Others may feel just plain terrible, and the bleak imagery on most five of coins cards captures that feeling. You are totally justified in feeling that way. Things are terrible in a lot of ways for a lot of people. The initial zinging panic energy has already changed, even if it has changed into the low level him of persistent existential dread. There’s no easy remedy for that kind of mental and emotional headspace. I’m not talking about real depression or genuine mental health need, which is far outside the scope of this kind of this kind of blog. It speaks to the normal funk of a person put in a funky situation beyond their control. Here I get the mental image and sound of “it can’t rain all the time” from the movie “The Crow.” In 1816, a volcanic eruption in the south Pacific caused an ash cloud so severe that it caused crop failures in Europe. Even in that “year without a summer” Yes, things suck. Don’t deny or minimize how you feel about it, but at the same time don’t let it affect what DO about it. Persist. Keep plodding on through the deep snow drifts. It might be along winter, but it isn’t a forever winter. You aren’t in this alone. To continue the analogy with winter, we are all freezing our buns off together to one extent or another. You might be in an isolated cabin by yourself, but you are not in the storm alone.
The third group has pretty much just snapped. Cabin fever has boiled over. Whether they have carried an enormous burdon or were just fragile to start, some have been pushed beyond their means to cope and are operating from a place of fear and anger. That person isn’t reading this and probably couldn’t hear anything the card might suggest anyway.
It falls to the rest of us to protect ourselves from lingering in a place like that and from those who do. Whether you are walking around harboring a glimmer of hope, like sunshine on a freezing afternoon or if you are sitting in fully overcast gloom, we got this. Yes, mind your resources. Yes, honor your genuine feelings. Winter can sometimes linger, but it never lasts forever.
Queen cards represent leadership as much as the King cards do, very much a team, not unlike a maternal / paternal partnership. The Queen’s leadership takes a more nurturing form. While the king is protector, Queen is a manager. While the King is out whacking away at the enemy, the Queen is in the castle keep making sure there are enough food stores, and supplies. That is exactly the kind of leadership we need in the times of a pandemic. You can’t whack a virus. It isn’t about male or female, but about leadership style that either gender can use and exhibit. We are all being asked to use skills that we haven’t had to use in a long time, if ever.
I’ve worked from home for a while now. And I use the term work loosely…and yes, that is a shameless plug to please give me more Tarot and Reiki work to do…but it takes a different skill set than it did way back in the day when the alarm went off and days unfolded on a pre-determined schedule. Don’t get me wrong, I love the free flowing coffee and being able to tool around in my fuzzy bunny slippers, but you do have to have some discipline and put some real time, thought and effort into managing time. And resources. And going for groceries. People in the gig economy who work out of their home have been ready for this. Now everyone has to latch on to those kinds of skills, and they are there. You got this.
Make and keep a schedule. Plan meals in advance and shop strategically (pro tip: use grocery store sales flyers to get meal ideas)…all simple but effective. You got this.
Leadership comes in a lot of forms. A little TLC and queenly management is one of them. Everyone can use a little comfort these days. That includes the queenly management. That includes you.
Sage Words Tarot 