This morning I felt called to pull our weekly cards from two different decks than I usually use. I’ve also recorded this reading. So if you’d rather listen, than read the message, you have that option.

So what is it we need to be aware of this week for our highest good?

From The Mystical Shaman Oracle:  The Witness

Right away I feel called to share that one of the key things I learned in Oracle School is witnessing and observing my own patterns and behaviors. This isn’t always an easy thing to do because with this can sometimes bring shame, pain, and/or guilt.

The Witness card asks us this week to pay attention to those moments these difficult feelings come up. And it’s important to remember that when they do to be gentle and compassionate with yourself. Within these moments that can feel painful and difficult is an opportunity to get to the root cause and begin to make changes to course correct and feel better about ourselves.

To the right of the woman, there is an eye and what appears to be light shining from it. I see this as reminding us to take time in stillness or meditation when uncomfortable feelings come up and tune into our own intuition. I see the eye on the card as representative of the third eye chakra which is about intuition, imagination, thought, and self-awareness.

Additional insight from the guidebook provides this invitation: The witness that has been by your side all along is now ready to become your ally. You thought you were the doer, but today you discover that things happen when you get out of your own way. Witness creation unfolding before you. Change reality by finding stillness and letting your true intent reveal itself.

All answers lie within, even when those answers are sometimes hard to acknowledge. But once we can become aware of them we can practice self-care and forgiveness towards ourselves, which then can help us to not only be more compassionate to ourselves but to also witness others in a more gentle way and also extend that compassion.

What animal ally is guiding us as we learn to be witness to ourselves?

From Messages from Your Spirit Animal Guides Oracle: Mountain Goat

So, yes, it can feel like an uphill and difficult climb when we witness and look at challenging feelings. But mountain goat reminds us that in order to restore balance to our whole being and especially within ourselves, being witness to the why of these feelings, becoming aware, and then working toward change will eventually lead us to feel freer and fully alive and experience more joy.

A line from the song Lonely Goatherd by Richard Rodgers popped into my head – High on a hill was a lonely goatherd. I see this as a reminder of the importance of being alone with ourselves and practicing stillness in order to find more balance in our every day lives.

Additional insight from the guidebook provides this invitation: It’s unrealistic to expect your life to stay completely in balance at all times, as it’s continuous interplay between the various polarities. Even the seasonal adjustments of light and dark slowly and gradually shift in a ceaseless dance. Notice how you feel when something is out of balance, and then take necessary steps to adjust in ways that provide greater equilibrium.

I’d like to add to this a quote I learned from my mom which is “this too shall pass.” When we are in a state of feeling dark, fearful, guilt or shame, it’s a signal to pause and just be with ourselves while also trusting that as it always does, it will eventually pass. Even when we may not have complete clarity of a challenging time in the moment, clarity often comes when we trust we will move through it, and insight will be revealed to guide and help us at some point. So staying in awareness is our friend (along with mountain goat!) to have beside us as we journey forward.

I hope this reading was helpful. Enjoy your week!

XO,

Barbara

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Cards used for this week’s general reading: The Mystical Shaman Oracle by Alberto Villoldo, Colette Baron-Reid and Marcela Lobos and Messages from Your Animal Spirit Guides Oracle by Dr. Steven Farmer.