As I am writing, the winds are blowing and my walk today was quite short. Although a bright sunny day, I felt the need to tuck under a blanket and drink hot chocolate. I’m not ready to come out of wintering, yet I am feeling ready for some reflection on the life that wants to be lived in this coming year.
I have reflected on the year past and gathered the harvest from all that happened. Now I am listening to my intuition and consulting my tarot, oracle and angel cards for the wisdom and insight I am ready to hear and know. I have begun a new collage journal to allow my soul self to speak to me through images, and I am practising stream of consciousness writing to listen to my inner voice. I am working with all my insight ‘tools’ to guide me in reflecting on next steps for emerging from hibernation.
My interest in tarot and oracle cards was first piqued in my 30s and I have used them for personal insight ever since. Back then a friend who lodged with me had a variety of decks and we would do readings for each other. We still do that whenever we get together, which is sporadic these days as she lives in another county now. Occasionally I’ll get a text with a card she felt I needed at that moment.
My best friend has a whole library of card decks, which I have raided to try out some new ones. The Wild & Sacred Feminine deck, the Witches Wisdom deck and the Tarot of Mystical Moments were the ones that had energy for me. The illustrations on all three are just beautiful. My trusted deck of old is the Druidcraft Tarot, and my other go-to is the Way of the Horse equine archetypes created by Linda Kohanov and illustrated by Kim McElroy. These two have guided me well through the last twenty years.
I find I can get very caught up in my head and while I am well attuned to my inner wisdom, my ego mind and ‘inner predator’ can get very vocal. I often use the card decks – whichever feels most appropriate in the moment – to bypass my ‘overthinking’. Most of the time I select three cards (randomly and unseen) for insight and occasionally I’ll do a full reading with a specific spread depending on my question or the clarity I’m seeking. I’ll often mix the decks too, using one as the focus and another for additional insight.
I never use them for prediction or forecasting, only for insight. I allow the message of the card sink into my body, letting the wisdom arise from my splenic sense. This keeps the ego mind from jumping in and hijacking me! I will often ask questions like:
What guidance is available to me in this moment?
What do I need to know today?
When it comes to reflection on the week/month/year past and the coming week/month/year, I might ask: what has departed and what do I need to be aware of?
When it comes to a decision, I will ask: what insight do I need to make this decision in this moment?
In truth, any question will bring forth an insight. There are two things that I trust in the process: firstly, that my intuition/inner wisdom will always guide me with the right card appearing when I need it, and secondly that my inner wisdom will let me know if something feels ‘off’.
I’ll give you a good example of this. At the beginning of the year, I was making a mandala for the life that wanted to be lived through me in 2024. I drew my circle and wanted to make six petals to create a flower in the mandala. Try as I might these petals just would not work. I gave up and played with the tarot cards instead.
One of the cards I pulled from the Witches Wisdom deck was Nine of Fire ~Alchemy. The image is of apples, blackberries, rosehips and other berries. In the narrative of the card are the words: “from one seed, now five are arranged in perfect symmetry as the star”. I felt a strong sensation in my body and an “aha” that the symbol for my mandala was a five-pointed star not six-petaled flower. Everything then dropped into place and, of course, then I noticed five-pointed stars all over the house - and starfish.
From the Wild and Sacred Feminine Deck, I had also received the card of Eve, our original receiver of insight through the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, whose symbol is the apple. Cut an apple in half horizontally and there is the five-pointed star.
The starfish has significance for me as one of my favourite stories. This is my version: A young woman is walking along a beach in the early morning as the sun is rising and the tide had gone out. In the distance she sees someone picking up what she thinks are pebbles and throwing them into the sea. As she gets closer, she sees that there are thousands of starfish on the shoreline. The thrower is an older woman, in her crone years, and she is throwing the starfish one-by-one into the sea.
The young woman asks the older woman why she is doing this? “Because when the sun comes up, they will dry up and die in the heat” she replies. “But you can’t save them all! What difference will you make?” asks the younger one. “Well,” says the crone, picking up another one and throwing it into the water. “I’ll make a difference for that one.”
I love this story because it reminds me that we while we can’t change the world on our own, we can always make a difference for someone and that might just change their world. Then who knows what impact that might have? And that is one of the reasons I keep on writing Gathering our bones and keep on telling stories and keep on sharing whatever insights come to me, because it might just be exactly what someone needs to read or hear at that moment, and it might change their world, whether I know about it or not.
So, when my chattering ego-mind jumps in with its sabotaging comments and fears, I turn to my many tools of insight and reflection for the real wisdom that needs to be shared. Because sharing insight is what I am here to do (it’s in my Human Design, which is another story for another day) and… it feels like the right year to write a book and make myself available for speaking opportunities again. The book is a gathering of wisdom about instinct, intuition and insight. I have a loose content plan, but that’s all, so there is much work to do!
This is shaping up to be quite an exciting year. I look forward to sharing all the strands of this journey with you. Please do share Gathering our bones with your friends and networks. Let’s keep sharing insight and saving starfish!
An invitation to share my book writing journey as a paid subscriber
Originally, I was going to make most of my posts for paid subscribers only, but I’ve had a change of heart. If my work is to gather and share insight, then it needs to be available to all readers. So, I have another plan for paid subscribers, which is this:
Would you like to join me on the journey of writing my book? Your paid subscription will do two things. Firstly, it will support me to continue writing and sharing for whoever needs to read it – and you will be supporting those who need the insight (whatever/whenever that might be). Secondly, it will support me as I write my book and keep me accountable for writing it.
As a paid subscriber, you will get exclusive access to the book as I am writing it. You will share in the journey and the process, and you will have the opportunity to help me shape the content and the structure. You will have the opportunity to contribute your stories, wisdom and insight too. Everyone who shares in this journey will be listed as supporters in the book.
Paid subscriptions are £7/month or £49/year.
There is also a founder member option at £140/year. In addition to the above, you will be invited to join a monthly online discussion group, to contribute your wisdom and insight to help shape both the book and Gathering our bones. There will opportunities to write guest posts for ‘bones’ and when the book is published (however that happens) you will get a personal, signed copy as a thank you.
I hope you will feel inspired to join me! Tx