I like samples, especially when they are free.
Those big box warehouse clubs are famous for their free food samples. I’ve found some of my favorite foods that way (looking at you chicken veggie dumplings and big chunk of aged cheddar cheese) Free appetizers are fun, but you don’t see them giving away the toaster oven.
Ever since the big pandemic lockdown back in 20 aught 20 when we were shopping a lot online anyway, I’ve been trying to transition to less plastic and more environmentally friendly versions of, well, everything.
Which is trickier than you might think when you have to factor in family allergies and skin sensitivities along with things like affordability and efficacy. Small and sample sizes, even when they aren’t free, are helpful in figuring out if a product is trustworthy or green washed. Small sizes helped me find good products and switch to the full size without wondering if they would give half of us a rash.
But that is all another story.
Free sample Tarot readings have a similar kind of utility. Free Tarot content is about helping you decide what works for you and what doesn’t. It is about a little sip or a tasty morsel. It’s not about taking home the whole toaster oven.
Over the years, I’ve had people call and ask for a “free sample” Tarot reading.
For private, individual readings? Nope. No free samples. This ain’t cheese and crackers. You gotta pay for toaster ovens and full size Tarot readings.
But I do offer other kinds of free samples. You are looking at it (or listening to it) right now. This blog is free. The podcast is free. The YouTube shorts and Sips of Tarot on social media are all free. Those collective energy readings may not be tailored to you individually the way a private reading would be but it gives a tantalizing little taste of what a one to one private email reading might be like.
I think this kind of openness and transparency is important to building trust like we talk about on the “How to Find a Psychic You Can Trust” page on the website.
Free Tarot readings are all over the place. Free Tarot content is lying around out in the open all over cyberspace but those free samples come at a subtle cost. You have to put in the work of discerning what applies to you and what doesn’t. Spirit speaks in whispers. With free online content you have to do the hard work of interpreting the message for yourself.
In my experience, spirit’s message will find you one way or another with all the energy and intensity of that old Blondie song. All you need is the chutzpah to listen or look for it. Spirit’s message always comes directly to you free of charge.
Spirit message hearing aids and translators are another story.
Even if you paid top dollar for the most famous celebrity psychic in the world, the nitty gritty work of applying that reading to your personal life and personal growth is still 100% up to you.
Paying for a professional reading is not paying for the message itself, it’s paying for a savings in your time and effort. Paying a professional to help you find spirit’s message spares you from a metric ton of trial and error, even though the final step of applying the message to your life will always be up to you. I got really good at intuition and Tarot readings the hard way through study and practice and time. You can get good at this too – through study and practice and time.
But that amount of time and effort is not something everyone wants to spend. The trade-off for borrowing my experience and expertise is paying the consultation fee.
Life and death emergencies aside, let me borrow an example from my friends in the medical profession.
All healing comes from within, from the living organism itself. Even the most advanced scientific medicine can’t create life where there is none. But they can help support the living being’s innate healing process. You could get over your sprained ankle on your own, but consulting a doctor might help you heal better or faster.
Intuition is a natural ability that we all have. Developing it to the level where it can be trusted to help other people is a professional skill. Consulting with a professional intuitive can help you find the message or inspiration that you need more quickly or more accurately than prolonged trial and error on your own.
Last week I combined the “Seat at the Tarot Table” and the “Patron of the Tarot Arts” memberships so that the lower tier price gives you the upper tier benefit of on demand email Tarot readings.You can get all of the details and disclaimers about that at the link below or in the podcast description.
Today I’m introducing a new membership tier. This is not an upper tier with all the benefits of the Tarot Table plus extras. it is an entirely separate and different thing. Right now it is an either / or choice. I don’t think you can do both memberships, but I can’t imagine that anyone would want or need both anyway.
Starting Monday February 20th, the new membership tier will be the only place to get Tarot every weekday. There will be some crossover, but the free content will be more random, less frequent and definitely not daily.
Today, however, I want to give you a sneak peek at what the weekday readings in the new membership level will be like.
The format on the daily post will vary to keep it visually interesting. Some days will have vintage public domain images from the Rider Waite Smith 1909 Tarot deck like the one below. Some will have my photos of a different public domain RWS deck that I have. Some will use my current favorite deck, the Alleyman’s Tarot used with the kind permission of the deck’s creator Seven Dane Asmund of Publishing Goblin LLC
Long story short, the free stuff isn’t really changing, it just won’t be as as frequent as before. The only way to get Tarot content every weekday is through the ko-fi members blog. I’m not sure yet how weekends will work, but watch this space and I’ll let you know what to expect.
What I’m trying to say, and not doing a very good job of it is that the only way to get absolutely everything, is to follow the free blog AND subscribe to the Daily Sip. Long read posts will be here, Daily sips will be there and social media will be whatever whenever.
It’s Saturday evening as I write this. Let’s pull a card for the collective energy for the rest of the weekend … or for whenever you happen to read this. If you are stumbling across this at another time, feel free to apply it personally. It’s a free Tarot reading and you can take it or leave it as you see fit. It’s up to you.
But in the spirit of those delicious free candy samples at the warehouse store, here is a free taste of what the Daily Sip posts will look like.
The King of Wands
A very broad brush rule of thumb for reading face or court cards is that the Queen carries the nurturing, maternal qualities of the suit, while the King carries the protective, paternal energies. Wands cards are associated with the classical element of fire, and can symbolize inner passions or our relationship with our inner selves.
I hear…and by the way, when I say hear that means that the mental intuition is in the form of words or sounds or music instead of images. In this case I hear “The king protects through teaching.” This brings to mind the value of education. Real education about objective facts and useful things. Neil DeGrasse Tyson famously said “The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.” That is the kind of education the card is referencing. This kind of education is the exact, polar and distant opposite from dogma and indoctrination.
An educated populace is a strong and safe populace. Good teaching does right by people. For the mental image piece of it, I am reminded of some of my favorite Instagram and TicTok creators: Dylan Hollis, GothDad, DadAdviceFromBo, bwb.positivity, MercuryStardust and PoppopBruce Johnson who all teach and inspire with great fun and equal kindness.
Today is a nurturing energy. It is a fostering and supportive energy. Do you have something to teach? Something to learn? Something to do together in mutual support? It feels like a good day for reading, studying, or practicing something you love. Read a book, go for a run, take a deep breath, soak up some sun…no matter whether whether it involves the mind or the body, do something today that nourishes your soul in the process.
Thank you so much for reading and listening. Please follow, subscribe, like, share or just generally stay tuned to the main (free) blog, the free podcast, the memberships and all the socials for the week-ahead reading coming up on Monday.
See you at the next sip!
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Sage Words Tarot 