Our strengths and weaknesses connect us like jigsaw puzzle pieces and together we are stronger
It fits.
Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Tarot blog and podcast. I’m glad you are here.
Finally things are back to a little bit of a routine. Yesterday, instead of a single card reading, I wrote about the Hermit card and inner peace as I would have for a private email reading for a client.
On one hand, it is a good thing because it gives all of you a look behind the scenes at a private reading and what they are like. You’ll know exactly what to expect
On the other hand, it can be confusing. During a reading with a return client, some parts take on a sort of short hand of references to previous information. That short hand gets even shorter when you are fabricating an example reading based on impressions you get for yourself.
In fact that is what the MadamAdam quote was really about. When he said that he wouldn’t want to take dance lessons from someone who couldn’t dance, he was talking about why on earth would you get a reading from someone who couldn’t / doesn’t read for themselves. That is part of holding up our end of the bargain. As Tarot readers, we hold up our end of the bargain with our clients by reading for ourselves, reading books, watching and learning from other practitioners…we keep ourselves mentally and emotionally healthy to be strong readers and advisors for our clients.
The same, as we saw in the example reading, is true for everyone. By stepping back, by isolating and taking time for ourselves as the Hermit suggests we make ourselves strong to be present and helpful and hold up our end of the bargain with those we love.
Today’s card, Strength, is also from the major arcana just like yesterday’s Hermit card and earns all the same attention for all of the same reasons. (I’ll put a link to that post & episode in the show description for the podcast people. Blog folks can click the link above to get to the same place.)
The Strength card is picking up the thread and continuing the Hermit’s message a bit.
The Hermit gave advice about how to cultivate strength. Strength, the card, is advising what to do with it once its cultivated. Strength in this case is channeled into connection with others.
We each have our strengths and our weaknesses. Think of it as yin and yang. Yin is inward, receiving, like the carved-out parts of a jigsaw puzzle piece. Yang is outward, like the pointy bits of a jigsaw puzzle piece. When we cultivate our strength and use them to help others, AND we allow others to help us and fill in where we need with their particular strengths, that is where we connect. That is where we become stronger still, collectively and individually.
Thank you for reading and listening! Any likes, follows, subs, shares, questions or comments that you can spare are always greatly appreciated. Just like season 3 of the podcast, nothing I do is advertising monetized so I can put your Tarot message first, not a commercial message. If you enjoy these Tarot readings and behind the Tarot scenes insights, please support the blog and podcast on ko-fi.com/TaoCraftTarot
Thanks again, and I’ll see you at the next sip!
Kune ni estas fortaj is Esperanto for “Together we are strong”
Example of a private client email Short Sip Tarot readings. Private readings have a different focus from the broad topics we usually see on the blog
It’s called “inner” peace because that’s where it has to happen no matter what the outside is like.
Hello and welcome back to TaoCraft Tarot blog for what I’m calling season 4 of the audio blog a.k.a. the podcast. I’m glad you are here whatever you want to call it. The text to speech capability that wordpress, anchor fm and spotify offer is working out really well for me so I’m going to keep the blog and podcast as they are unless I hear differently from all of you. I’m a good writer, but not such a good media talent or voice actor. I’m happy to let technology compensate. In the end, you will get a better tasting sip of Tarot.
Happy belated equinox everyone! This is as good of a time as any to start a new season of the podcast. I’ve heard that it’s good practice to re-introduce yourself every now and then. October is the fourth anniversary of rebranding from Modern Oracle Tarot to TaoCraft Tarot. Halloween is often considered the witches’ new year so it all kind of fits. Look for some review and announcement content on the print blog over the next few weeks
Generally speaking, the blog and podcast will post late morning or early afternoon Monday through Friday, but it may skip some days unexpectedly. Social media is completely random. The members-only blog will still get a reliable “Pathway Through the Month” reading near the 1st of each month, a newsletter close to the 15th of each month and the “Tarot Turnover” intuition building exercise every weekend. Stay tuned to the free print blog to learn about other members-only benefits.
The most important message I want to get out to you today is that I am always, always grateful to you for reading, listening, liking, subscribing & sharing but most of all for your questions and comments. Thank you to each and every single one of you.
It happens sometimes.
Sometimes I will pull a card with every intention of doing a general audience blog reading but instead the Tarot message will land right in my own wheelhouse like the Hermit card did today.
The card resonated so well when I drew it that it gave me an idea. Instead of the usual “short sip” reading, I’m going to write this as if it was a one card reading for a client. That way all of you can see (or hear) how my email readings work. The information and detail you get in a private one card is different from the broad topics we usually talk about in a short sip post.
Because I’m a writer, email readings like this are my specialty. Think of an email reading as a written transcript of exactly what I would say to you if we were meeting face to face. Written intuition being exactly equal to spoken intuition is the introverted clairvoyant’s superpower. It’s a win-win for everyone. I get an enjoyable work flow while you get the convenience of 24/7 no-appointment ordering plus a photo of your cards plus a record of the session that you can read (and re-read) whenever you like, as many times as you like. Email readings are supremely private, utterly convenient, not to mention affordable. Here is a comparison for you. In my in-person one hour sessions I use a seven card Tarot layout. I give you that exact same reading by email for 65 cents a minute. Compare that 65 cents per minute to the current national average of 1 to 5 dollars per minute for a psychic reading. That’s already a heck of a bargain when you factor in my 30 years of Tarot reading experience. So no, I don’t do readings for free outside blog and podcast, and no, I’m not doing any more sales or giveaways other than those that are part of the ko-fi memberships. This isn’t a scam but I have legit expenses like web hosting, book keeping, food and so on.
But I digress. Back to the Hermit card.
Let’s roleplay this a little.
I’ll write today’s post as if it were a one card email reading for a private client, using the impressions that came through when I drew the Hermit card earlier. If you like, pretend this is a private reading, just for you. Kick the tires and take it out for a test-drive to see how you like the email format. Then if you ever order a private email reading with me, you can be confident it will meet or exceed your expectations because you’ll already know what to expect.
Question: Hi. My name is Tired Person who has had a super chaotic couple of weeks. I would like the left cut of the deck when you shuffle please. I don’t have a question or topic. I’m open to whatever message or guidance the card can give. Thank you.
A: Hello Sleepy. I hope the reading gives you a little boost. Tarot is all about that kind of encouragement and inspiration, not predictions, but you already know that. I know your circumstances from our conversation earlier, but I won’t publish any of those details. Protecting your privacy is a major priority. Thank you for giving permission to share your card reading. I never share a reading for a specific person without their permission, and even then I redact it more than the CIA to keep any identifying information out of it.
Had a hunch that the Alleyman’s Tarot was the right one to use today. Your card is the Hermit from the major arcana. This particular Hermit card was drawn by Aka Skyweb for the Ariadne’s Thread Tarot deck. (Side note to the blog and podcast: I use the Alleyman’s Tarot deck with permission from Publishing Goblin LLC. )
Major Arcana vs minor arcana isn’t quite as telling with one card as it is in a larger layout. Intuitively it doesn’t feel like the card is pointing to a major life lesson, big decision, or major turning point in life as major arcana cards sometimes can. Minor arcana cards outnumber the majors almost two to one. I don’t know the exact math, but chances are that any given single card draw will result in a minor arcana card. Given that, major arcana cards always earn a little extra consideration in any size of reading.
If the arcana reads into this at all, it is to say that this is a high energy time time for you, just as you described. For you it felt chaotic, but that level of energy can also be stressful or invigorating. Everyone feels it differently. Whatever this higher intensity energy makes you feel, usually you feel a lot of it. However you describe it, the card is acknowledging and validating the high wattage energy you’ve felt recently. In any reading, any card in any layout position can have different spin or different flavors of message. It can be an advice message giving you something to consider doing. It can be a caution message giving you something to consider avoiding. It can be recognition or validation, like a cosmic “I hear you.” Or, as in this case, it can be a reassurance message. The feeling around this card very much is letting you know that you are on the right path and doing the right thing for this moment in time.
The Hermit symbolizes seeking isolation and finding inner peace and wisdom. It is about insight that becomes a light in the dark. Outer quiet clearly isn’t an option for you right now, so let’s look at the inner part of it.
In your case, it is letting you know that the self care you have already been doing is the right thing. It is perfectly ok to dial back a little on things that you have been focused on to shift your attention elsewhere. It’s better to do one thing at a time as best as you can than to half-ass a bunch of different things. Ralph Waldo Emerson said that “The greatest gift is a portion of thyself.” Your time and attention is a worthy gift. If you wanted to share a bottle of expensive wine with friends, you wouldn’t break the bottle into pieces to share it all at once. You would pour a little into each glass in turn one at a time. I don’t know the full details of the situation, but it feels like you are being told one thing at a time, not everything all at once. “One thing at a time in the right order, first things first” is good advice for adults too, not just small children.
I ‘hear’ “Red thread of continuity.” Of course, when I say ‘hear’ it means that the intuition comes as mental words, sounds or music instead of as mental images (that’s the difference between clairaudient and clairvoyant) which refers to the read thread on this particular version of the Hermit. I think what that all means is that whatever that thing you set aside or de-prioritized for a time CAN and SHOULD be picked up again once the current chaos has passed. You did the right thing putting one thing on the backburner for a time in order to give the best of yourself to something more important.
This card strongly reminds me of a live feed I was watching of a fellow Tarot reader (MadamAdam) Some of what he said very much applies with the energy here.
You’ve talked and written about self care. It’s important that you have led by example during this time. It’s important that you stepped back from work to take care of yourself and your family. People need to know your advice is real, and that you follow it for yourself and that it WORKS. Like “Madam Adam” said that it is important to “keep up your end of the bargain” your family, yourself and your professional clients by keeping yourself healthy and well and learning and growing and doing all of those things we professionals, in all of our wisdom, tell other people to do. He really made the point when he said “Why would I take dance lessons from someone who can’t dance?” Indeed. Why would any of us take advice from someone who doesn’t take care of their own spiritual and emotional wellness?
Stepping back from work did something important for yourself. Stepping back from work also kept up your end of the bargain to provide good service to your clients. Don’t beat yourself up for not sticking to some arbitrary schedule that you make up for yourself in the first place.
By stepping back from work, you gave a fuller measure of yourself to loved ones which is infinitely more important than ANY mundane task.
Plus the red thread thing shows that nothing was lost, you can pick right up where you left off.
The red thread of continuity shows that everything was gained by being true to your own insight and your own priorities.
A lot of times the Hermit card gives us advice to find quiet and carve out the quiet time we need. All the quiet and isolation in the world won’t help when you are churning on the inside. By the same token, all the outer chaos in the world can’t touch calm that comes from the inside. That’s why they call it “inner peace” because that is where it has to happen no matter what is or isn’t going on around you.
Intuitively I see a shiny black crystal…I think it is black tourmaline more than hematite which will protect your energy. In my mind’s eye, I see meditation beads so whatever meditation, yoga, tai chi or chi gong practice you might have, please do indulge in that as best as you can. For aromatherapy, I get sandalwood, copal, amber. Lavender, chamomile, bergamot are your standard issue aromatherapy recommendations for stressful, chaotic times. I think they might actually get on your nerves more than support them. Go for warm smokey woody scents for those times when the world is getting on your last nerve.
And get some sleep. Take a nap as much as things will let you. Sleep is an incredibly healing thing.
There the energy steps back. I hope that helps. As always if you have any questions about the reading or anything else, leave it in the blog comments or send an email. The contact is on the website.
Hang in there!
I hope the mock up reading helps you, too. Thanks again for reading and listening. See you at the next sip!
Thank you for watching, reading and listening to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your favorite morning drink.
Today’s Card is the Hermit from the major arcana
Light is silent.
The thing making the light might make a sound, like a crackling fire or humming street light, but the light itself is utterly silent.
Most, if not all, Hermit cards have a lantern or some symbol for light on them. Hermits choose to be alone. This combination brings to mind classic tropes like the candy suggesting guru on a mountaintop or the tea plucking wise master in a bottled tea commercial. It also brings to mind the mythic association between silence, solitude and enlightenment. Gautama Buddha meditated alone at night under a bohdi tree. Bohdidharma meditated alone facing a cave wall. Micheo Usui meditated alone to realize the Reiki symbols, and so on.
Enlightenment is a quiet thing.
Evangelism is, however, not. It is a normal human thing to be noisy and enthusiastic and want to tell everyone about this nifty new thing you found so the people you care about can benefit from it too. It’s primal. It makes evolutionary sense to put up a screech when you find the clear water stream or the full fruit tree. That’s great that you care enough about people that you want to share your best found treasures with them. But at some point it has to grow up beyond that. At some point it has to ripen from the joy of discovery to the depth and security of lived experience. At some point, deep truths become a silent stream of light lest they be reduced to pearls before swine or gnats around the heads of others.
Some days it is a service to shout to the tribe about the good that you have found. Lights are a signal in the dark as much as a shout. Sometimes the best signal is a silent light.
Now is not the time to press, to strive, to make big decisions – or try to learn to make good youtube content. Now is the time to be mindful. Pay attention to the here and now, even if it is isolated or terrible. But that’s easy for me to say, because right now I’m ok. I forget who said it, but mental and emotional suffering lies between how things are and how we wish them to be. Now is a time to gather in our energies and make friends with where we are and who we are, no judgements, no goals, no expectations.
Click play to see the cards for this reading. If you were to order a Four Seasons distance reading for yourself, it would work exactly like this one, except it would be a photo of your unique card layout, not a video of the card draw.
The Cards Are:
Winter (now-March) The Hermit
Spring (March – June) Queen of Pentacles
Summer (June – September) Ace of Swords
Fall (September – December) The Empress
Year (as a whole) The Sun
General Pattern
Every year, it has been fun to play with the idea of predictions. With all the social media zeitgeists, precedent defying politics here in the U.S. and assorted crisis around the world, the energies look like a swarm of tiny tornadoes more than any clear path. This is more like a weather report than a prediction about how 2020 will go. The word “unstable” comes to mind just now. When I drew the cards, I did with the intention that this reading will help someone somewhere who reads it, and capture the energies well enough to help us all navigate what could be a truly unpredictable time.
Three major arcana cards hint that it will be a high energy year, again my attention is drawn to volitility. Major arcana cards typically hint at big energies, and times of significant choices. I am reminded of that adage of where there is chaos there is opportunity. In some readings I’ve done lately there has been a ‘choose’ energy…lots of opportunities, lots to choose from. In this case, it feels like it is hard to choose because every time you do, the rub moves out from under you. The sense of it is “choice is your security, but entrench at your peril”. Choose, pick a direction, choose SOMEthing to be your guiding star. That inner structure, that skeleton, will be your salvation among the chaos, BUT remain adaptable. Be willing to change, adapt. In my minds eye, I see that contest show “Face Off” where they make masks and costumes. They have a ridged cast of their models face, and they design the costume in clay on the form underneath for a custom fit. If things don’t work with the original design, they change the clay on top and make changes, but the solid form underneath stays the same so the end product still fits the model, no matter how many times the initial clay design changed. The same seems important here, for this year as a whole…the Sun represents steadiness. Usually the format for a reading is to talk about an individual card in it’s turn. Yet, here, the sun and stability steps forward right away in the ‘general pattern’ part of the reading structure. So we adapt. But we keep to the structure otherwise so we can move through the reading in a way that makes sense. (If you would like more behind the scenes information about how all of my readings are structured, click TaoCraft Portfolio free download)
The minor arcana cards include two special cards, a queen and an ace. Pentacles (in some decks coins) resonate with the element of earth, and reflect our relationship with the material world. Swords resonate with the element of air and can hint at either action, intellect or our relationship with culture and authority. For both of these cards I feel pulled more to ward the more contemporary relationship with the material world / culture than with the older elemental associations.
Winter
The Hermit is a good card for winter time. Winter is a time when maximum yin energy is the norm. The weather is cold, we naturally hibernate a bit. While we are home in our cozy clothes, sipping tea or hot chocolate or what have you, it is a good time to think and plan. Activity is largely mental and intellectual. The light on the Hermit card seems very important. Read, listen, watch…however you take in new ideas and inspiration, do that. Think of gathering wood in the distant past. It was fuel for not only survival, but preparation for the coming spring. Feed your mind and creativity, gather what you need and get the rest you need so you can spring into action. Once the winter passes and the energy shifts, the shift happens quickly. Here I get mental images of Tigger from Winnie the Pooh, and the starter’s gun at a track meet sprint.
Spring
The Queen of Coins is all about “hearth and home”. Queens are a caretaking, nurturing sort of leadership. The energy points to “bloom where you are planted” particularly where work and career is concerned. If you want a change, it is a time to lay a foundation to make a smart, safe move later in the year. This is not the energy for a flamboyant walk-out. If you are thinking more in terms of promotion or working within the system where you are, this is your time to shine. I can’t quite pull it into focus, but there is a reference to some saying about a lotus blooming in mud. Be the lotus in spite of the mud. Energies are favorable for making the most of things as they are. If that doesn’t work, keep an eye out, lay the foundations for opportunities to present themselves later on. There is also a sense of literally staying near home. Staycationing might be a better choice than traveling.
Summer
The Ace of Swords has to do with creation, creativity. Steve Jobs making a ding in the universe comes to mind here. Swords denote action, but at the same time are association with doing, making, creating, and our relationship with culture and society at large. If you are a politically active rabble rouser…get to rousing, Civic duty looms large, be in a campaign, which of course speaks directly to the US presidential primary. This is politics as bloodsport, no one can stay on the sidelines. It really is the crisis the media has portrayed it to be. “Things are getting real up in here” comes to mind.
On a more personal level, if you have been wanting to shake things up, and the “bloom where you planted” energy just isn’t working out, this energy is more favorable to make a move, especially if you have done your homework and laid your foundation during the winter and spring months. That energy feels especially strong later in the season, and may spill over into the Fall.Do it right. Do it with courage, strength and integrity. This is your time to put your ding in the universe. Rise.
Fall
The Empress is about nature but also about bringing about something new. Often the card is associated is motherhood, and the Empress on the card is often drawn pregnant. It feels like coming to term. This was one fast growing baby (flash pop culture reference: Renesmee in Twilight.) There is a sense of completion or coming to full term. Here all the swirling energies start to find their footing again, and all the changing and adapting may slow just a bit. Projects prepared for in the winter/spring, and begun in the summer will either come to completion in the fall or come to a place where you can more reliably see the road ahead. Decisions become a bit easier, planning moves from short term fast adapting to something more long term.
Year
The Sun card stepped forward early. The advice about having strong inner armature that is able to adapt and change very much stands. Now I see jointed armature for a statue…a bendable metal skeleton that holds the weight of the sculpting clay that can also move and change. The early appearance of the card was a reassurance for us. As chaotic as the spring and summer may be compared to winter and fall, the sun always rises, where there is yang there is yin, chaos rises, chaos falls. I’m not touching the election results with a 20 foot pole, but whichever result there is, the response will be vigorous. There will either be great ecstacy, or a deep entrenchment and readying for more storms to come. Either way, Fall will let the pressures of spring and summer escape for a time. There will be a relief of knowing, a moment for a breath, then move on to whatever is next.
The pattern seems to be think and prepare, decide, adapt, do, adapt, see results, then adapt some more within that end of year fullness, fulfillment and respite.
I hope this helps somewhat for someone somewhere somehow.
Time alone is a mirror that reflects your true self to your own eyes. How do you feel when you are alone? If you are uncomfortable, why? Understand that, and you’ll have a good idea how to make things better.
You are connected to everything. Your Tarot message comes from the energy of everything. We don’t have to be in the same room for spiritual guidance to be given. Get the exact same reading we sould do together in person, only written instead of spoken – the words are exactly the same either way.
Distance Tarot has its advantages. No appointments are needed…order it whenever you like, read it whenever you like. It’s comfy. You don’t have to go anywhere. Put on your cozy clothes, pour your favorite beverage and enjoy the reading at your leisure. It’s private. No one sees you going to a ‘psychic’ or one coming to you. The email attachment is for your eyes only.
I’ll go pour the coffee. Why don’t you go over to the home page (HERE) pick a reading and place your order. Then we can get started making something special, just for you.
Sage Words Tarot 