animal guides

Our Wise Self Knows How to Move through Chaos and Conflict – Animal Wisdom and Oracle Guidance

Posted by Barbara Techel

Here we are in the last week of April. We’ve certainly all gone through changes we’d not anticipated along with what I hope you’ve gained which is a new way of seeing the world and also hope for what is yet to come.

For this week’s reading, I pulled both cards in reverse which means protection in these two particular decks. This is a message from Spirit/Divine/God really wanting us to understand this teaching while at the same time giving us a hug and gentling nudging us to get on with it.

Chaos and Conflict: No doubt just hearing these words you may be finding yourself cringe. I know I sometimes do when I pull this card for myself. It can conjure up a negative thought and perhaps you are feeling a tightness somewhere in your body just reading the words. This a beautiful clue to explore further.

The fact it is in reverse means we have to ask ourselves the question of where aren’t we opening our minds and hearts to finding the gifts in what appears to be a time of chaos or conflict?  It’s during these times we may have to ‘work’ a little harder to understand, but this is where the true reward lies. This is what will advance us forward in a much quicker, fulfilling, and lasting way if we can ‘see’ past what appears to be a disruption or may feel like things are falling apart.

We humans don’t like change. I’m just as guilty of this at times. Especially when it feels like things are going smoothly and life feels like it is all roses. In the middle of chaos and conflict, we may yearn for the good times of the past or pine for what we hope the future will bring.

But it’s in the middle of turbulent times that we can glean the greatest teaching that can change us in a profound way. I can’t help but think about my own life and what felt like a tornado that moved through me in the winter of 2018. How that chaos and conflict of wrestling with all those feelings I knew had to be dealt with regarding a childhood wounding felt like the pain would never end. Times of chaos and conflict doesn’t always go in a straight line, nor does it exactly outright share how everything will turn out. But what’s important to remember is that it is only temporary.

The Chaos and Conflict card is the exact one to help us deepen our faith and expand our trust in a way we’ve never done before. As we continue through these times of uncertainty and while hints of what may all come from this is beginning to appear in different ways, we still have unanswered questions too. Lean into what you know is certain, like the fact that Zebra do indeed have stripes, even though the card shows only partial stripes. But they are there. Trust that.

Owl Spirit: When we are in times of confusion and worry we can often lose sight of our own wise inner compass. Did you notice the owl on the card has a crown on her head? This is a message for us to tap into that energy center within ourselves to gain insight and understanding. When we open that chakra – our crown – and connect with not only our higher self but also with the Divine, we find that in time we can gain the clarity we are seeking. 

Times of chaos and conflict can have us getting stuck in our minds where we go round and round with what are just thoughts of what could or should be and this just keeps us spinning our wheels. 

As I shared at the beginning of this reading when we find ourselves in what feels like chaos and conflict it’s a beautiful clue to explore further. So take time to drop into your heart space. Do something that feels grounding to you – such as meditation, walking, getting out in nature, painting, journaling —whatever it may be—because this is what will help that monkey mind to rest.

And as your mind begins to quiet, your wise self will feel more comfortable in coming forward and you’ll be surprised at how the answers you seek will more easily float right on up to the surface. 

Wishing you much love and peace this last week of April!

xo,

Barbara

One-to-one intuitive guidance and oracle readings available here.

Cards: Wisdom of the Oracle and The Spirit Animal Oracle by Colette Baron-Reid

Ending, Beginnings, and Sweet Sheep

Posted by Barbara Techel
Photo by Sam Carter on Unsplash

It’s a chilly, damp spring day and the day after my book launch of I’m Fine Just the Way I Am and my heart overflows. If you had wanted to attend but weren’t able to make it, I recorded it and you can watch it below.

As with any creative project that involves the heart there is a myriad of feelings I’ve experienced from preparing for the launch, to the actual launch day, to now on the other side.

As John and I had a date night in our R-pod last night as we’ve been doing every Wednesday since the pandemic began, I was flying high with excitement and a heart that was lit up in feeling so supported and loved. John shared how happy he is for me and he knows what a journey this has been for me – for us. He then said in the sweetest tone, “Are you going to take a few days off?”

My heart melted and it resonated as that is just what I wish to do. My art journal pages have been calling me again. Last week I had printed out this photo of this sweet sheep as something about her is speaking to me, so I’m looking forward to just playing with paint and paper and seeing where it will take me.

Though I was very tired in a good way when my head hit the pillow last night, I woke at 2 am and couldn’t go back to sleep. I had dropped down into that melancholy space of realizing something has ended and something new which I don’t quite know what that is has begun. 

I honor it all as it is what continues to make my heart feel full of gratitude and peace. It was in the quiet of the morning then that this photo of the sheep called to me because she speaks of this softening within myself that is such a sweet space to be.

So off I go to just be for a few days. I’ll be back next week. 

As promised, here’s the recording of my book launch. I hope you enjoy.

xo,

Barbara

 

 

The Dance of Delight and the Gift of Flexibility – Animal and Oracle Wisdom and Guidance

Posted by Barbara Techel

What do we need to know for the highest good as we move through this week?

The cards I pulled for us are from The Soul Coaching Oracle by Denise Linn and The Ark Animal Tarot and Oracle by Bernadette King

DELIGHT

Such a happy card! It feels like an extension of how I felt this weekend and an invitation for us to bring that into this week. As I turned up the wood chips and soil in the gardens around my home the last two days, I relished in how good it felt to connect with Mother Earth. 

I’d grown a bit weary of hearing about what a “new normal” will be and tired of the conversation each evening circling back around to the coronavirus. I’m not trying to sound as if I’m making light of it, because I’m most definitely not.  But I’d just reached a point of not wanting to take in any more information about it and what the future may hold or the theories that are all being investigated, not to mention the fear, bickering, and hostility that comes with this too.

As I puttered around outside and within my home which I’ve always enjoyed, it just really hit me how much I love and delight in the simple things of life. If that will be the “new normal,” I’m all for it.

I also caught a post by a life coach where she said that her nervous system is beginning to acclimate. And even though she stated it as acclimating to a “new normal” I heard it in my mind as a new way of being.

What the heck is “normal” anyway? What is normal for me, may not be normal for you. But where is it you really take delight in life? This is the time we get to seriously explore this if we choose. I believe so many became numb to what that is because of getting caught up in the adrenaline of “busy.” 

When I think of the word acclimate I feel that in my body as more peaceful and fluid which brings me into this space of being. It feels so much more satisfying than when caught up in the energy of what busy feels like.

So as we all continue to acclimate to this time of evolution looking at the two birds on the card which I see as doves and symbolize peace, I see this as an invitation to dance with the exploration of our hearts and what is it that makes us feel light, free, and delightful?

EEL

Our animal ally as we explore what delights us is Eel. I immediately saw the eel as smiling, not to mention the color purple which is so soothing and calming.

I then heard in my mind, electric eel. How electrifying it feels and all our senses light up from the inside, out when we are living from the place of what it is that brings us true joy.

The word flexibility on the card also jumped out at me. This is a time we are all being asked to be more flexible in how we move within the outside world. While that can feel constricting at times because it’s what we’ve become used to, the Eel so fluid as it moves through water invites us to find delight and joy in this new way of being not only in the physical spaces of our homes but also within our own inner world.

As we each participate in this expedition of how we each need to individually evolve, I see this more fluid, peaceful, and way of being as the gift that has the potential to positively affect the world at large around us. And being a part of that movement, well, I take great delight in being a part of that.

Much love and peace to you.

xo,

Barbara