This is the first time in a while (8 months actually, I googled it) that the day of the month is a Monday, so the pathway reading would follow the weekend turnover reading in 24 hours (or less depending on when you read things.)
Reading on top of reading on top of reading is never a good idea. WHY – your guess is as good as mine. I can see where the old school way of saying it might be something like “the cards get mad and stop talking to you.” Intuitively, energetically, it feels like that. Maybe it is something about human psychology. If it is, the seven of cups captures it beautifully with its meanings of dithering, overthinking, decision paralysis, and trusting your gut / emotions / instincts.
Trust might be the real core of it – trusting your intuition.
Asking over and over is asking from a place of mistrust in yourself, or even fear. Asking over and over might indeed be fishing for the answer you want…not the true one. That is a lack of trust in the process too. Here I am reminded of the Adam Savage quote on a tested.com t-shirt “Follow the process, not the plan.” How often in the past have we been so focused on one thing that we rejected something better when it fell right into our lap.
My favorite example of this comes from the book “One Last Time” by John Edward. Please read it for the details. He is a well known psychic and medium and has a really interesting story. I’m paraphrasing heavily here. He was very close with his Grandmother and after school they would watch the soap opera “The Guiding Light” together. As I remember it, they were open and talked about life after death. When the time came that his grandmother was near death due to illness, they made the agreement that she would communicate with him if it was at all possible. They set up three secret words between the two of them that if he heard them from a reading, he would know beyond doubt that it was her and that the communication was real. He said the first two came easily and quickly, but the third was their shared fanhood of “The Guiding Light” soap opera. In reading after reading nothing came and he became frustrated, and almost gave up on the whole thing. Multiple times he got references to lighthouses, like the ones on the New England coast. But nothing about TV, or soap opera. Finally in a slap-my-forehead moment he connected the dots that he had his answers multiple times over. The lighthouse was the guiding light he needed to hear, not the TV soap opera reference he expected to hear.
On one hand, his persistence and repeated questioning paid off. On the other he nearly threw away a profound experience that launched his career (and helped others through his readings) because of preconceived notions. If asking over and over isn’t giving you an answer.
I know that is a loooong way to go to get around to today’s Tarot Turnover. Long story short: spirit speaks in symbols and whispers. Trust your intuition. If you feel the need to keep asking, first revisit the readings and answers you have in hand. It that doesn’t help, give the problem a little time to breathe. Give it time for decisions to made and intentions to be set. Look back at the answers you have, then persist. If you are lucky, one way or the other you’ll get your lighthouse.
Today, my intuition is telling me to combine the weekend turnover intuition exercise and the path through August Tarot reading. Don’t worry….we got this. Here are this Month’s cards:
Every day can be new year’s day. These cards show the energy around to help your fresh start happen.
Today doesn’t feel like the day for the annual tongue in cheek New Year’s reading with a bunch of rubbish predictions.
While rummaging around for easy throwback content this week, I found this old post from August 2021. Weirdly, it feels like as good of a New Year’s reading for the new calendar year in January as it did for the new school year in August.
August cards aside, I think this year is going to be palpably different from the past half dozen or so. I get the feeling it is going to be a year of…OK.
It’s OK to be ok. There is a real risk of slipping into seeing ourselves as victims and falling into a lava-pit of blame or continuing the acid-bile anger and hatred that has been so stoked over years…no, decades. It is OK if you don’t feel euphoric or joyous about 2022 considering what the world has been through and still endures. OK is OK. We could all do with a little luke warm, middle of the road cozy goldilocks zone, I think.
In 2017 it felt like a zombie apocalypse with a feeling of impending doom considering who was about to be sworn in as president. Then, after a swirl of disaster and destruction on a political level came 2020 where every intuitive’s bell was ringing red alert for one reason or another. The reading for that year gave a mental image I still clearly remember. I can still see that U.S. map with tiny tornadoes all over it followed by the mental image a hurricane on the horizon. 2021’s reading brought the mental image of peeking our head out of a mental and emotional storm cellar to survey the damage.
This year continues the narrative…but with a whole different feel. In my mind’s eye it is the same disaster scene, but the sun is brighter this time and we are all fully climbing out of the shelter, not just taking a cautious peek to see if the coast is clear. The mourning and cleaning and binding of wounds is beginning. It all hasn’t ended, but we may well be at the beginning of end instead of the end of the beginning like we were a year ago.
Mourn. Heal. Sweep up. Abide with this precious moment we have now. This isn’t a time to be paralyzed in terror of an uncertain future. This isn’t the time to dwell in resenting the past. This isn’t the time for trying to recreate a past that will never be again. This is our time to lay the foundation for a future that is right for for us, right for the times that are the here and now, not for the forces that created the disaster that has so profoundly changed us over the past 5 or 50 years. When Ghandi said to BE the change you want to see in the world, I think he meant BE as a very active verb. It is time to protect the important things that were almost lost, and time to create the important things that were neglected before. It is time to live and do and be.
It doesn’t start on New Years Day. It starts every day. Every minute. Each new breath can be a fresh start. Inhale deeply.
My New Years wish for you is that the first thing you can be is at peace with the moment we are in, even just for the moment we are in it. One moment strings into the next. The colors and surroundings and circumstances of that moment constantly changes. Any tiny moment of inner peace we can capture within all of the changes need not transform along with everything else. If we are a little careful and a little mindful, a moment of peace is a moment we can keep and revisit.
This is the post from August 2021: “Every Year Has a New One In It”
A bunch of new ones, actually.
When something is a circle, it doesn’t particularly start or stop at any one place. That is true of a year. Not only is it a circle, it is kind of an arbitrary way to chunk up time into manageable pieces. People invented the year as a way to describe time. Naturally, one of the best ways to do that is, well, nature. Seasons turn in the great circle of a year (yes, I know seasons are caused by planetary tilt and orbit which is actually an elipse, but I’m in no mood for pedantics)
Either way, when and how you mark the new year is pretty arbitrary. Celebrate it any time you like…or multiple times. Perception and emotions change in a blink. Each new moment can be a fresh start. Any day can be New Year’s Day.
This is that new school year time of year. We parents, I suspect, are a bit sentimental at the passage of time. Students, I suspect, are a mix depending on how they feel about school. I’m not sure what anyone is feeling or doing with the pandemic sized wrenches that have been thrown in everyone’s schedules.
I’m a fan of Fall, so I always look to this part of the year with a fairly high degree of anticipation. Even now that I’m no longer connected to the school year per se, I still feel a sort of anticipation. It brings the hope of cooler weather, back to business and a more predictable work flow, and of course, pumpkin spice everything. Harvest and Halloween as the mark of a new year resonates with me as much as confetti and champagne in January, maybe more so.
It felt right to do a Year Ahead reading today.
I’m still trying to think of a better name for this layout. If you have a suggestion, please, feel free to drop it in the comments. By any name – any day is a good day for a new year. All you need to do is choose your moment and begin. Two “nine” cards is particularly draws my attention to September. Whether you are connected to the American school year or not, it feels like September might be an opportune energy environment for productivity. The song “Danger Zone” comes to mind, especially the part about “overdrive” In all fairness and full disclosure, that is when I’m planning to let some schemes out into the wild, so this bit might be projection on my part…take all of that with whatever size grain of salt you’d like.
Like the year ahead layout says, let’s begin with right now.
OK – back to New Year’ Eve, in December 2021. I’m going to follow an intuitive impulse right now and re-read and re-frame these cards for the actual New Year tonight. You are welcome to watch the original reading on YouTube, on the blog, or through the link in this podcast episode description
I would say the Nine of Cups still applies right now. We are finishing up the Fall holidays and that energy still resonates as much at the end of the season where we are now as it did at the beginning when I first pulled the card. Keep it up, in other words. This seemed to be a subdued year as far as the holidays were concerned. Warm, cozy, intimate small circle gatherings, connecting with your closest of close relationships is the thing for the winter too. That’s the part to keep up more than any indulgence or raucous celebration. Even though the Fall season has ended, its energy lingers a bit.
Cups is often the suit of romance. The winter card, the Two of Cups from the August reading is still a perfect fit, even as we begin the winter instead of looking ahead to it from the early days of Fall. (If you are wondering, I’m mentally doing the arms up for-the-win, stuck-the-landing gesture. I love a good intuitive hit.) This is a season where little things means even more than usual and this is a season to lavish warmth and TLC on those you love. The Two of Cups is the card of committed, intimate relationships. It often goes with weddings, and marriage. As every jewelry commercial on television will tell you, this is a good time of year for that sort of thing too. No matter what the relationship is, by any definition, give it as much warmth, appreciation, attention and tender care as you can muster this season
For Spring, The High Priest, I ‘hear’ “Teach them anew.”
I’m glad that for whatever reason I picked up this deck for the reading back in August. This deck is my favorite for the High Priest. Right now it definitely has that shamanistic, keeper of the mythology sort of feel to it much more than the social convention, pope-ish rules and regulations energy that so often comes with the Pamela Smith and Marseilles artwork for the card. It make me feel that it might just be a mild winter and will let us turn to spring quickly and easily. It has a heady, philosophical feel about it. It has a “teach the children” feel about it. Care for the little ones. It is a time of gentleness and appreciation for nature. and following the flow of things in the process.
Full disclosure, this might be a private issue popping in, so please forgive this break from my usual rules about this kind of topic…but I feel pushed that someone else out there might benefit. My recovering fundamentalist brothers and sisters….if Easter is toxic for you, don’t do it. Consider this a cosmic permission slip to reject, avoid or run away. This isn’t a rear for spiritual law and order. This is the year for spiritual diversity and inclusion. If a particular tradition speaks to you, then yes, by all means follow it fully. If not, by all means follow whatever spiritual path that allows you to live a life of compassion and contentment and be at peace with yourself. In my mind’s eye, I see the High Priest as the Dali Lama who said “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.” The spring energy pulls us to kindness and teaching it by example if nothing else.
The Nine of Swords is another card where I love Ellen Dugans interpretation and Mark Evans’ representation. Calling it a “drama queen” sort of card is just the energy for summer. Here I’m reminded of the Disney TV show “Wizards of Waverly Place” where the mom is made into a local internet celebrity with a montage of her telling her kids to “knock it off!” This card is playing the “knock it off lady” for us. There are enough real world crap to deal with without adding psychological drama on top of it all. This is a call to “knock it off” and get over ourselves and get to whatever work is at hand. It will really be time for storm clean-up during the sunny days of summer, metaphorically speaking.
The Page of Wands still fits as the year card, too. Pages are symbolic of learning. Wands are symbolic of our inner world, our inner passions. Wands are related to the element of fire.
The word “crucible” just stepped forward.
The heat and pressure of the past several years may have changed us on a deeper, more molecular level than we realized. 2022 might be a year of getting re-acquainted with ourselves. May we all find more strength and peace and health and happiness and love and kindness than we expected.
Thank you again for watching, reading and listening. I hope you will join me in 2022 for more short sip daily readings, you choose interactive readings, the new membership tier on ko-fi plus a few exciting new things that will unfold probably over the winter season. Of course, private email readings are always available with no appointment needed. Your attention and support for all of this means so much. I appreciate each of you. Thank you and Happy New Year to all.
The card deck pictured is Witches Tarot with artwork by Mark Evans, used under the permissions granted on the Llwellyn publishing website.
Thanks for watching, reading and listening to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee.
Today’s card is the Nine of Swords.
Nine cards strike an interesting balance. Cups and coins are often associated with completion, satisfaction or a job well done while wands and swords are more somber and challenging. The nine of swords, as portrayed by Pamela Smith in the 1909 Waite Smith deck, is often interpreted as restlessness, insomnia, worry and useless regrets.
Today, the energy is a little different.
The Witches Tarot by Ellen Dugan and Mark Evans is one of my favorite decks for a few different reasons. First and foremost is Mark Evans’ gorgeous artwork. The color palette has richness, depth and substance without being overly dark. To my eye, his color choices have just the right mix of warm and cool, reds and blues in any given card. The colors enhance the underlying tone and message of the card. My other favorite part is the composition of the images in general. While it generally follows the Rider Waite Smith model, it has less of the religious imagery that can be frankly toxic to many of us in the modern era. As I understand it, Dugan and Evans deliberately made it more culturally and religiously neutral than the RWS deck. Ellen Dugan’s writing about the cards definitely resonates with my own views about Tarot much more than Waite’s writing.
That’s not main reason why the Witches Tarot came to mind today. In this case, Evans’ portrayal of the nine of swords emphasizes a different thread of energy: The drama queen. The Smith artwork is very sympathetic, even empathetic in the way it reminds us of sadness, worry, and upset. Evans’ image reminds us of the unnecessary aspect of the suffering. Earlier card interpretations write about that unnecessary aspect, but this image shows it visually, too.
The older card is gentler, more kindly, almost grandmotherly about the message, something akin to “I understand how much this hurts, but take care not to dwell on it over long.”
Today’s energy has a very modern, blunt, to the point message. It is closer to a “Suck it up buttercup and stop blowing things out of proportion” vibe.
We’ve all had big worries. We’ve all had big things happen. Sometimes those things keep us up at night or wake us up in the middle of it. And at times we’ve probably all made things out to be harder than they really are.
So many of us are work-ethic oriented. Things and activity and experiences have a so-called sweat equity. Easy things somehow seem less valuable or less satisfying.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
Something that is easy and no-drama can be just as important and valuable as something that is difficult. The other half of yang, is yin. The other half of pushing the envelope is hauling it in. The other half of wakeful worry is being at easy peace.
Quite a few years ago, I consulted with editor and “professional muse” Gina Mazza. She said something that was an epiphany for me at the time and still resonates with the nine of swords today. Even though it was the early days of self-published e-books, she told me of author who had just published his first book. In three weeks. After describing the process, she wrapped up the conversation with “I can be just exactly that easy. Why not?”
Why not, indeed. Suffering for your art (or work or whatever) doesn’t necessarily make it inherently better. NOT suffering for your art doesn’t necessarily diminish it. Enjoying your creative process and life experience just might make the end result better. Ease and enjoyment of what you are doing has its own value.
That is a lesson I intend to take to heart here in my own work.
This combined blog post and podcast episode wraps the podcast for season 2. In January, the podcast will morph from Clairvoyant Confessional into TaoCraft Tarot Podcast. It will functionally be the audio version of the blog. The podcast won’t have 100% of everything. There will still be some print-only features like the Sunday Turnover intuition building exercises. At the same time that the podcast name changes, the content will expand too. It will have Short Sip episodes most weekdays but will add weekly “YouChoose” interactive readings, Q&A, behind the scenes and other blog content. If you get the podcast through Spotify, the YouChoose episodes are in video format. On other platforms YouChoose will be audio only.
Clairvoyant Confessional will drop back to be a rare episode title. The pirate radio evil villain monologue didn’t turn out to be quite the way I’d hoped. I’m happy to hand over most of the vocal performances to Siri’s cousin Remy. It’s easier that way. Dang it, I’m a writer not a media presenter. The text to speech technology makes the whole podcast thing more enjoyable for me. In turn, I’m hoping it will all make the podcast more enjoyable for you, too.
Thank you again for watching, reading and listening. I appreciate each and every one of you. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season. May we all enjoy the time, and let our easy and happy light shine. See you at the first sip of 2022. Happy New Year!
*Witches Tarot by Ellen Dugan and Mark Evans used with permissions granted by Llwellynpublishing.com
Thank you for watching, listening and reading. TaoCraft Short Sip Tarot is a reading to guide your day in the time it takes to sip from your morning coffee…or whatever your beverage of choice may be. Any likes, subs, shares, follows, reading orders or membership subscriptions you can spare are always, always greatly appreciated!
Today’s card is the Seven of Wands.
The classic meaning has to do with success after struggle. You are going to get what you want to go – but you are going have to work for it, maybe a little harder and longer than you expected.
Back and forth, yin and yang, good stuff comes after hard stuff – even when the hard stuff is internal and about personal development rather than literal, physical realm struggles.
Matt Auryn, in his book Psychic Witch reminds us that “everything you touch touches you.” That connectivity and reciprocity is inherent to many if not all Tarot cards. It applies to the Seven of Wands even though it is tempting to see it as the surface meaning portrayed in the picture on the card. It is easy to see the Seven of Wands as an omen of a conflict or a struggle that is in progress, eminent, or looming on the horizon.
Underneath the struggle there is a thread of potential success that you may not sense in cards like the three of swords or the devil card. There is a hint that the struggle will be worth it on some level, even if it isn’t necessarily a victory by surface definitions.
I’m especially fond of Ellen Dugan’s added advice to meet challenges and overcome them with “style, wit and humor.” In his Heart of Stars Tarot, Thom Pham points to the character Obyron from Game of Thrones. Mr. Pham emphasizes Obyron’s persistence, and 100% dedication to the battle at hand. He’s all in and never gives up. But, just like Ms. Dugan, there is a nod to a great sense of style. Obyron is the essence of self confidence, beyond comfortable in his own skin and as much of a bon vivant, racountour and hedonist as he is a fierce warrior.
Both of these give us a hint about how to cope with our daily battles. If you touch daily struggles with your own unique style and personal sense of humor, it may touch you back with a little bit of hope. It might let you see the thread of victory and silver lining that helps you doggedly persist. Challenges that stretch beyond our comfort zone are often just the way of things. A little style and humor makes that way of struggle leading to success just a little more worth it.
Today’s card reading is less about the card and more about the reading process itself. Today’s message shows how there is more to reading Tarot than just memorizing rote card “meanings.” It’s a skill anyone can learn, but it takes some actual time and effort to get the hang of it. It isn’t a personal shortfall if you leave it to professionals. You can learn, grow, and benefit from getting a reading just as much as doing one for yourself and vice versa. Just because I’m able to learn to change the oil in my car doesn’t mean that I want to learn it or in a million years ever would do it. So the professionals get that job. That is what they are there for, right? Same with Tarot. If you don’t want to be bothered learning how or if you need a hand with a reading you’ve done on your own, get a pro opinion. No big deal. That is exactly why I’m here; to help.
Intuition takes everything to the next level.
Like it says in the video, the Four of Pentacles is one of those cards that seem to have two threads of meaning. Sometimes it is a bit menacing, and can indicate greed, stinginess, a need to protect your finances. Other times it has a lighter feel. That lighter side can be an indication that the need to be on guard is only temporary, or can hint a very minor money surprise, like finding forgotten a dollar bill from last winter when you put on your coat the first time next fall.
Every deck varies a little bit in how they represent the energy of the card. The artist might show more of the greedy, miserly, on-guard energy or more of the kindly, it’s temporary, little surprise, a sort of “be careful with your money now, and life will pull a coin out of your ear later” kind of vibe.
So how do know which thread applies to the reading at hand? If you have a choice, how do you know which deck to use in order to best capture the energy of the day?
You don’t know.
That’s where intuition comes in. Follow your hunch about which deck to use. Use the deck that feels right or ‘speaks’ to you that day. The message will find its way through.
Listen to you feelings, and the quiet whispers. If something on a card grabs your attention, follow it. If something feels wrong, trust that too.
For example, let’s say the energy for your day is the ‘mind the budget now, things will be better later on’ kind of message. Intuition may take you to a deck with a lighter-looking card, like the Heart of Stars Tarot on the right (featuring the resourceful but kind Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.) What if your only deck was the gruffer looking Four of Pentacles from the Witches Tarot on the left? Would that necessarily lead you to the harsher, not-quite-right interpretation? Not necessarily. You may get a feeling of something being wrong. That something-is-wrong-here feeling might nudge you to another or lesser known interpretation of the card. Or intuition may nudge your perception of the card image away from gruff Scrooge toward a protective Grandfather feeling. Either way, giving credence to your imagination, accepting the subtle as valid and honoring your feelings helps the better message to find you.
In the beginning it may feel like you are just pulling made-up crap out of your a…..back pocket. After a time, as your skill and comfort with intuition grows, you find that you are really pulling gold coins out of thin air.
The Four of Cups in the Witches Tarot (by Ellen Dugan and Mark Evans, all rights reserved, used here with the permissions granted on Llwellynpublishing.com) is my favorite of all of the Four of Cups that I’ve seen.
It reminds me of the word abide.
If this present moment is one of contemplation, of introspection, of moodiness, or melancholy. Abide with it. Sit with it. Allow the mood to be in its fullness without judgement, action or reaction.
The stream is key. Let the mood flow. Don’t keep it. Don’t deny or bury it. Moments and moods pass.
Let your affection flow out to and your pleasure flow in from whatever it will. Understand but don’t stand in judgement of these honest, spontaneous emotions.
Starting March 1 “12 Second Tarot” will be “Today’s Tarot.” Why put a time on timeless ideas?
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It’s a day to roll up your sleeves and get the real world work done. The emphasis is on the practical. Give intellectual and spiritual efforts a rest, and pay attention to the rare gift of this physical existance.
Sage Words Tarot 