SoulCollage® Reading for the Week for All of Us

Posted by Barbara Techel

SoulCollage® Reading for the Week for All of Us

I think many of you know by now that I LOVE oracle cards! Such helpful and fun guides to help us with life’s big and small questions. Finding SoulCollage® and making what are in a sense, my own personal oracle cards, has just helped to deepen this ritual I find such a fascination with.

The universe really does love us and is always sending us signs and symbols. Our job is to pay attention!

I have different rituals for my SoulCollage® cards and that is part of the fun of it! As I got out to my writing cottage today the thought popped in my head that I’d like to choose a card at random not only for myself, but for all of you who faithfully read my blog each day.

So here is the question I posed for us all as I shuffled my deck of SoulCollage® cards:  What do we need to know for the week?

The card I made of my favorite flower, the ranunculus, which I made earlier this year, is the one who presented itself. The answer I heard by being in silent diaglogue and journaling with it had this to offer us:

You need to know that it is going to be a beautiful week! One filled with many layers of possibilities. Just as new buds are beginning to open to the sun, so too are you being presented the same opportunity. Lift your arms and your whole being to the heavens, just like the petals of a flower opening to warmth of a new season, and embrace all of who you are. Let the exquisite beauty of you bloom and fill this world with the many magical shades of color that come from all the many layers that make you uniquely you!

I realized after choosing this card for the week, that yesterday, a friend has posted a photo of her “art studio mates” for the week, which she always has fresh flowers, and this week they are the ranunculus! Coincidence? I think not! 🙂

Photo credit: Cynthia Morris Art

Wishing you each a beautiful week!

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Dreaming of Hummingbirds. Plus Baby Hummingbird Video.

Posted by Barbara Techel

Dreaming of Hummingbirds. Plus Baby Hummingbird Video.

I can’t quite put out my hummingbird feeders and house yet. But hopefully in the next two weeks. According to a search on Google, the Ruby-throat hummingbird typically arrives in Wisconsin by May 1st.

The darling little hand carved hummingbird house in the photo is one I bought in Asheville, NC when we visited there last fall. When John spotted it, I squealed louder than I realized causing the checkout clerks to glance my way.

Every spring when I get to put out my feeders, and now this little house new this year, I can’t help but think if my sweet dog, Frankie. It’s hard to believe it will be five years June 21st, since her passing. And it was ten years ago tomorrow (Easter Sunday) that she became paralyzed…and as many of you know, changed her life, and mine profoundly…and for the better!

A nickname I had for Frankie, of which which she had many, was that I called her my little hummingbird. And so it really was no surprise that two weeks after she passed away that she’d visit me as a hummingbird, fluttering back and forth in front of my face for a few moments while a song that reminded me of her played on the radio as I sat on the deck.

It’s a memory that I cherish so deeply in my heart. And why I love when hummingbird season comes around again. For it’s in those hummingbirds that return for the season that my heart dances with joy for the spirit that Frankie brought to my life.

And maybe, just maybe, a mama hummingbird will feel safe and build a home in the tiny house I bought just like the little ones in this video. I really enjoyed watching this and I thought you might like it, too.

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No Longer a Thrift Store Snob

Posted by Barbara Techel
No Longer a Thrift Store Snob
Me and G – Happy Spring!

I posted this picture as my profile photo and within minutes I had several likes and comments – guess it is a hit – and it prompted me to write about my hat and where I got it.

I almost didn’t buy the hat. I was at the check-out counter at St. Vincent De Paul’s the other day where I saw it as I went to buy my some other items. I picked it up once. Then put it back. I love hats, but sometimes feel funny wearing one.

But that hat was determined to go home with me…I swore I heard it calling out to me. Just as the clerk rang in the last item I bought, I quickly grabbed the hat and put it on the counter. 

I’m glad I did. If I wear it once it certainly didn’t break the bank at $4.49. But I have a feeling I’ll be wearing it often. I adore it!

And to think I used to be a thrift store snob. I wouldn’t have been caught dead in one when I was in my 20s and 30s. But then in my late 30s, feeling like something was missing in my life, I began to think about what a meaningful and creative life would look like for me.

I no longer wanted to be in the corporate world. I wanted more freedom. I wanted to explore what it was that would make me happy and bring me more joy.

This meant making different choices because my income was no longer what it was. I admit that I do love clothes and I like to look nice. So now instead of purchasing three items that would cost on average of $75 or higher at a department store I normally walk out of a thrift store with a bagful for about $30.  In fact, I bought three cute tops, a pair of shoes, and this hat for $27 and some odd change.

My taste in clothes have changed too. Oh, how I used to love all the designer brands. But these days there are just so many others things in life that are important and mean more to me. 

So I’m glad I bought the hat…and I’m really glad I’m no longer a thrift store snob.

As for Miss Gidget, I don’t believe she has quite the fondness for hats as I do, but lucky for me she humors me and puts up with it.

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