I’m near the end of my Animal Reflections Oracle Deck project. Well, sort of, as I’m almost done with the completion of this phase. First was creating the deck which I did collage and mixed media style. Then began phase two and writing a message for each card.
Each afternoon I’d randomly pull a card and have it waiting for me on my writing desk for the next day. I didn’t always write each day if I felt I needed more time with that animal that was up next or if other things needed my attention.
But there I was at the end of last week with two cards left to write the first draft for. I appreciated how it was Wolf and Firefly as the last two. I smiled at how it fell into place. I intuitively knew that Wolf would be the next message I wrote, which I did today. White Wolf came to me years ago during a guided visualization and then again when I asked her name one evening before drifting off to sleep.
She came to me at a time when my heart was in a great deal of pain. It was a time when I wanted to close my heart down for fear of being hurt again. But White Wolf reminded me that this is what stretches the heart and to close it down would shut me off from experiencing love again. This is the journey we walk having this human experience of feelings and emotions which helps expand our compassion and empathy not only for ourselves but for others too.
The last card left to write a message for – Firefly – is the culmination of the theme of the deck with each animal offering wisdom encouraging the importance of inner work – that each time we move through an experience of growth we emerge with a more confident sense of being and shine our light out into the world.
I’d been pondering whether or not to add one more animal to my deck, but now everything feels as if it has clicked into place so I won’t be doing that.
It’s time to complete phase two before I go onto phase three which will be going back through each message I’ve written and fine-tuning things. Then phase three will be sending the text off to my editor. Once that happens I will begin to scan and digitally add a word to each that represents that card/animal, while also exploring how I wish to publish the deck with two possibilities I’m giving thought to.
It’s fun to stop and look at how far I’ve come with this project. And I thought it would be fun to give you an update as many of you have expressed support for my deck, which I really appreciate! Thank you!
XO
Barb
