Tag: spirit guide

Drink from the Flow

Sage’s Short Sip is Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee

Zen teaches us that only an empty cup can be filled.

So what do you do when your cup is full, when things are good?

That CAN happen, by the way. It’s probably  happening right now. Check it out. Shift your attention away from your screen in 3, 2, 1 – NOW. Pay attention to what is around you. 

Are you at work? Cool! You have a job and some degree of income! Are you doom scrolling? Cool! You have a device and internet access to scroll with! Are you in physical danger? If you are, get off your phone and do something about it for cryin’ out loud. Have you had something to eat today? Did you get a little bit of sleep last night? 

I’m not saying that you don’t have anything on your mind. I’m not saying that you aren’t struggling with anything or that your health is perfect or you have no emotions or emotional pain. Everyone deals with something sometimes. Call it the price of admission to this brief and shining spark we call life.

​Pay attention to just this minute for a minute.

Paying attention to right here and right now is what we call mindfulness. 

What fills your cup right now?

If you spend your life waiting for champaign, you are going to miss the clear, cool, clean, life-giving water that is there right now. If things are good, drink up. 

If things are good, drink it in with gratitude, and make room for more to flow in. 

What if the water in a cup is stagnant, or bitter, filled with dirt or germs? Drinking from that would be a bad idea. Instead do what you can to clean out the cup and find a better drink. That requires emptying the cup to make room for more to flow in, too.

How do you know where the good things are to fill your metaphoric cup once there is room in it?

Today’s card is the King of Cups. It symbolizes emotional maturity, emotional protection and healing, mentors, teachers and spirit guides. 

Cups and water are timeless symbols for exactly this kind of spiritual, intuitive, emotional learning. Going back to cups and water as an example. 

How do you know where the clean, healthy, flowing water is? We don’t necessarily know. We don’t have to know that alone. Teachers, mentors, students and mentees all have a way of finding each other when the time is right. When you are thirsty and your cup is empty, ask for directions to the nearest water fountain. If you know where the clean safe water is, it is up to you to give directions to the empty-bottle thirsty people. 

Knowledge and guidance and life flows like water. We all have cups. Drink from the flow even as you help others to do the same.

Thank you for reading and listening! I appreciate each and every one of you.

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See you at the next sip!

My Tarot Valentine 2021: Two Hearts Can Be Better Than One

No video today…having some issues with the YouTube upload. If I can get it to work, I’ll add the video later below. Before we move on to the card, what do you think of the video / written post combination? Comments are open now, so don’t hesitate to speak up (unless you are speaking in spam.) What do you like about the blog? Hate about it? Let me know what kind of Tarot content you want to read, and I’ll do what I can to create it.

I like the authenticity the videos lend to a post. You can see the card drawing itself. You can see that this is a real, random card draw for the post. It gives a visual, relatable window into the Tarot process over and above a static card image. Because of the large file size, it isn’t practical to do this with full, customized distance readings, but for these general audience, short, one card meditations, the blog and YouTube videos (usually) play well together. By that same token, the written blog gives us the space and pace to explore the card with more depth and thoughtfulness than video will tolerate. I can take a few seconds to stop and listen to spirit and intuition while I’m writing. Those few seconds of dead air in a video are a long boring eternity. I like to think that this combination is the best of both mediums.

Other days, like today, are in full “dammit Jim, Imma writer not a yootoober” mode. If I have to re-shoot a video, then the random part of the draw gets lost unless I draw a whole new card, which is easy enough to do. Other times, like today, the first card has something to say. The King of Cups wants to be heard, so I’ll listen despite the technical glitches both in filming and uploading. And no, it isn’t friggen’ Mercury.

Actually, it is a short, simple, straightforward message.

Talk it out.

Relationships are important things. They are hardwired to connect outwardly, and by their very definition and nature connect to other people. Relationships are not something that can be sorted out if they are a swirling jumble inside just your own head. If, for whatever reason, you are not able to talk it out with the significant other in question, then a sounding board of some sort is really helpful. Yes, by all means, talk, text, write, send smoke signals, do anything and everything you can to communicate directly with the other person in the relationship. If that isn’t possible, then talk it out with somebody. At the very least, talk it out in a journal. Turn the self-talk outward be it with pen and paper or be it talking with a trusted friend or family or therapist or psychic or what have you. The process of talking it out, the process of verbalizing or writing it all out may be exactly the process you need to make sense of it all. Have a heart to heart chat with your pet. Organizing your thoughts and feelings and channeling them through your language centers might just be the bridge from feeling to knowing that you need. It is the switch that makes the light bulb click on.

This has nothing to do with traditional interpretations for the card. It is pure intuition in the context of this “My Tarot Valentine” series, but the advice here is also to talk about any big changes in a romantic relationship before your make up your mind and begin the conversation with your love interest. It has that ‘I don’t know who needs to hear this, but it feels important for someone out there’ feeling.

It feels like it is important to talk out the relationship, and any changes you have in mind, yes, but before you act, talk to someone trusted who is older than you and of the same gender as the significant other in question. I ‘hear’ “slow your roll.” Clairaudience is like clairvoyance, except for me when I say ‘hear’ it means that the intuition is in the form of words instead of mental images. I can teach you more about that another time (watch this space!)

But to stay on message…relationships connect outward, so if you have any concerns about a relationship, process it outwardly. Don’t keep going in emotionally charged circles inside your own head. Write it out in a journal if nothing else. Change to a relationship in terms of this card today holds no judgement. It can be good or bad, depending on your individual situation and needs. Whether you are thinking of popping the question or cutting the cord, talk it out with someone you trust, someone who wants the best for you who is a friend or relative (someone who is NOT invested in the outcome except for your happiness) Talk it out with someone older or wiser, preferably someone of the same gender as your significant other. I don’t know why that part, I’m just trusting the intuition there.

And there, as I always say at the end of a reading, the energy steps back.

Technical gremlins are afoot.

So are some changes for spring. I’m not going to give a “hard opening” for a new distance reading that I hope to develop. I’m hoping to announce a big change for the spring equinox. Please go to the right side of the page (or scroll WAYYYY down if you are on mobile) and follow the blog so all new posts, video or otherwise, will come right to you inbox along with the big announcement. Well, not that big. Think cool, new and improved. Nifty and fun even. Stay tuned!

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: The Cleric Within

Happy October!

Interactive Tarot is easy. Watch the video above, and pick a card. Pause the video if you need more time. Then keep watching to see the reveal. The daily meditation for the card is below.

The free one card digital InkMagick reading by email offer continues on the special offers page (link in the menu)

Animal Wise Tarot by Ted Andrews used with permission

Left: King of Cups. Mr. Andrews associates this card with dragonfly through the eyes. Dragonflies have large compound eyes that are able to detect far greater subtlties of light and color than can human eyes. This guides the dragonfly in navigating its world. In other decks, the King of Cups is also associated with guidance of a different sort. Although the suit of cups is often associated with romance and relationships, in this case it resonates with the alchemy association with the element of water, and in turn with inution. The King of Cups is a mentor, and your cue to look for real-world advice and guidance from someone with more experience. “Get the life hack from someone who knows what they are doing” in other words. BUT there is another thread to this card. Sometime the mentoring is more esoteric. Sometimes this card is a cue that the energies are right to explore spiritual topics like vision quests, spirit guides, guardian angles and so on. Only you and your intiution can tell you. You are your own spirit guide and your own best advisor whether you need to look for practical outer world advice or look inside for your spiritual path. Listen to the cleric within.

Center: Six of Swords, “Dove” Doves are lovely gentle birds, and we are surrounded by them more than you might think. Mourning Doves aren’t afraid of the suburbs or the countryside. Pidgeons are related to doves, and they aren’t afraid of suburbs or cities either one. Heck, I’ve seen those guys take on a bus. Think pidgeon (aka the rock dove.) This is a week to do compassion your own way just like pidgeons do being a dove in their own way. Doctor Who and the “Witches Apprentice” episode comes to mind with its idea of “fierce compassion” Do your spirituality your own way this week. Compassion and contemplation can be done with gusto. The best person to lead that kind of spiritual practice is you. Follow the cleric within.

Right: The Emperor “Eagle” I remember seeing a bald eagle up close at a rehab facility, where the individual could not be returned to the wild because of its injuries. They. Are. Huge. Not a bird to be messed with in a dark alley. Eagles are a good analog for the Emperor card which is about confidence, and utter competance. Here in America, Eagles are associated with freedom, strength, and protection. An innate quality that goes along with those things is the ability to think, and critically evaluate for onself. You are the Emperor of your world within. Trust your own eagle eyes and trust your own ability. This is a good week to learn, and learn confidence in your own ability. You are the emporor of your inner world. Decide for yourself, you are your own chief cleric within.

YouChoose Interactive Tarot July 20-25

Choose a card. Pause the video if you need more time, the restart for the reveal. Don’t over think it, though. Just pick whichever cards seems right at the moment. Or use them all if you like. Then scroll for card highlights.

Here is where things get a little different from before.

As we talked about in last night’s blog post, the basic blog is going to stay largely the same…all the same “my side of the table” behind the scenes and how to posts, all the same Q&A posts, Reiki, Meditation, Niggles….all of that is free to read and follow just like before. “YouChoose” interactive Tarot reading videos will still be here on Sunday or Monday. I expect/hope/intend to do “Today’s Tarot” every Wednesday.

The difference is MORE content, not less. I’ve added a subscription tier to the basic free blog. For a low $5 per month, subscribers will get value-added content over and above the usual free posts that you have seen over the past year and a half of TaoCraft Tarot. Subscriber benefits include longer “YouChoose” card interpretations, extra “Today’s Tarot” posts, subscription only special offers and giveaways, and best of all, access to personal one card readings by email (one reading per month per subscription) The reading alone is a $5 value if purchased separately in the TaoCraft Tarot Shop.

Left: Three of Coins. It’s a ‘nose to the grindstone’ kind of week. Success needs effort.

Center: The World. Good omen card, but don’t forget to look for the big picture so you don’t miss the good stuff.

Right: King of Cups. It is ok to get advice. Look for a mentor or a guide – two heads are better than one.

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Todays Tarot: Every Little Thing

 

“We can “read” anything in our world as an answer to an issue or question. The answer is in our heart and the world reflects it back to us. If you asked a question and your eyes caught a spider web, this web would reflect the truth that was within and be an answer to your question.” – Joy Star

One contemporary way of understanding the four minor arcana suits in is terms of relationships: how we related to the physical realm, to our inner selves, to society at large and when it comes to cups, our relationship with relationships or our innermost circle of loves, friends and family. In a nutshell, all of the king cards symbolize leadership. Cups also relate to the alchemical element water. Water in general relates to intuition (think of the fish in a cup, mysteries from the depths of our psyche connotations from the Page of Cups card.)

Stir all of that together and it eventually boils down to intuition leading you, or leading through a deep trust in your intuition. One of my favorite interpretations for this card over the years is the king of cups as pointing to a spirit guide. A more literal spin is that of a mentor who guides your development in a specific area but in more connected, long term, developmental way than you would associate with a teacher or manager or organizer.

For now, I’d like to focus more on the spirit guide side of it. If you feel drawn to the mentoring side (either as mentor or mentee) I strongly suggest reading Chunliang Al Huang’s excellent book Mentoring: The Tao of Giving and Receiving Wisdom.

Spirit guides are a fascinating subject. Books could, and have been, written about them. My absolute go-to favorite is Ted Andrews’ How to Meet and Work With Spirit Guides. Some people think of them as something very separate from themselves like a patron saint sort of figure. Some see them closer, like a guardian angle or the one to one spirit guide described by Andrews, Bach and others. Still others see a “spirit guide” as a reflection of our spiritual side, our “higher selves.” This is the kind of guidance that Joy was hinting at when she wrote about the world reflecting our truth. Things like Tarot cards, planets, stars, runestones, I Ching lines….whatever it is…don’t give answers in and of themselves. They are the carrier signal, the pipeline, that lets the message come through. Oracles deliver the message from our inner wisdom and higher selves through the noise of everyday living to our everyday consciousness. The cool thing is every little thing can be an oracle. Remember that lyric from the song by the Police “every little thing she does is magic” ? It is just as true that every little thing is magic. Anything can be a tiny little validation, or an itsy nudge toward the way you should go. Every little thing is magic when you look with intuitive eyes.