oracle decks

Embracing the Gifts of In-Between

Posted by Barbara Techel

Embracing the Gifts of In-Between

Nestled snug in my writing cottage, with my dachshund, Gidget snug in her pocket blanket (it opens at one end so she can climb right in), the cloudy and dreary skies from the morning have opened to an ocean of blue for as far as my eye can see out the half-moon window that faces west.

Before the sun had even risen, I’d meditated and pulled my oracle cards for the day – Flamingo Spirit from Spirit Animal Oracle deck, Exchanging Gifts from Wisdom of the Oracle, and Rest from Bright Souls deck.

I pondered what message this had for me for the day. In the beginning stages of a not-really-planned kitchen remodel with the drywall stage that began today, I knew right away what this reading was inviting me to do.

In all honesty I was resistant to the remodeling project. I’m someone who likes everything in its place as it helps calm my energy and soothes my nerves if I’ve had a challenging day. My home or as my dear friend refers to it as, my nest, truly is my sanctuary. My zodiac sign being cancer, I fit that to a tee as I’m all about the beauty and comfort of home.

Part of me worried about the financial part of the remodel also. Should we really be spending the money? The “what-if’s” swirled in my mind. But mostly, I didn’t know if I was up for the temporary disarray it would cause. This soon began to diminish as I picked out new counter tops, a new kitchen sink and faucet, and a new range that would replace the microwave I’ve been wanting to get rid of for a long time now.

But before I can get to the fun part of having this all installed and my kitchen back in order, this reading is inviting me to embrace the in-between. Just like anything in life, there are gifts during anything transitional if we open our perspective to invite it in.

BEFORE
Half-wall comes out
Two cabinets come out while inspector Gidget supervises
Drywall in progress

I see Flamingo Spirit as encouraging me to find peace during this time of transition from old to new.  Exchanging Gifts is that by being present with things as they are, even when things are not as I’d like them to be, there was a gift last night in seeing my kitchen empty awaiting its new look. The wide open space was inviting in many ways as my imagination plays with how it will all take shape over the coming weeks. The Bright Souls card, Rest asks me to simply be with each stage of the remodel and take each as a gift for what it is.

And so it is with the changing of season’s and of life, too. This reading fitting for the season of winter here in Wisconsin, as we move through January. The holiday season behind us and all the energy that brought, to a much quieter time now. Both season’s a gift in their own ways.

I think about how the winter months are my favorite to write as I continue to work on my newest book, I’m Fine Just the Way I Am. Which had a season of its own today as I came to the point in my writing process where it was time to print the manuscript out so that I can see the typed pages before me and begin shaping it from this vantage point. This will lead to the next step, and yet another, and another until I hold it complete in my hands at some point.

Part of writing for me also that I’ve gotten better at embracing are the in-between places such as when I’m not actively sitting at my computer and writing, but allowing what needs to simmer and move through me before it can come to the page.

January, I see as such a prime example of in-between as I keep my focus on my current writing project, while capturing ideas for future projects that are coming through me right now, with only the intention of writing them down. So too must they go through their own simmering and pondering stages – that liminal space of dreaming and wondering what it could eventually be.

Flamingo Spirit rests her sweet pink head within her soft wing, just as the roots of perennials and trees lie dormant, but with much life in them, in the cold of the earth, blanketed by the snow. All these in-between’s of the world, that lead to growth just as it is meant to unfold.

And just as I finish writing this, the clouds have rolled back in, and so this space of in-between is here sooner than I anticipated, but I know the sun will come again.

XO,

Barb

On Becoming and Making it “Official”

Posted by Barbara Techel

On Becoming and Making it "Official"

While it’s been official for some time now, and while a certificate is simply a piece of paper which I received yesterday, this acknowledgement of the deep personal work I accomplished since Fall of 2017, ….well, I must say, it made my heart smile.

It’s not always an easy road to travel when looking at what causes us pain, for we don’t always remember that on the other side, what is waiting for us is a new and improved version of ourselves, not to mention a new found sense of peace!

Revisiting my journal entry from October 9th, 2017, the second week into Oracle School and the first phase being the foundation called Personal Mastery, we were asked to pick four cards from The Wisdom of the Oracle Deck and do a “Becoming” reading.

It began with what part of my becoming needed the most healing?I pulled Never-Ending Story. In order to become who I wanted to be, I would need to let go of past pain, transform it, and learn to see it as a gift of how it helped make me who I am. As so often happens, and we don’t often recognize it, but we do get stuck in our never-ending stories and thus find it difficult to move forward.

The next card representing what aspect of my healing needs the most encouragement I pulled Peace in protection (reversed). I was being called to trust that if I worked with what it was I felt wounded by, brought it into the light, and witnessed it without judgement, that I could find my way toward more peace for my life. I had to believe that if I walked through the pain, I’d find peace on the other side.

The third card was about what aspect of my healing needs the most effort. I pulled A Change in the Wind. I can still feel the resistance I felt when I pulled this card that day. We humans don’t always like change and oh, do we like to resist it. But I knew that if I wanted to achieve more lasting inner peace, I’d have to accept that change was needed and that indeed it would take effort on my part.

The last card pulled was about what aspect of my past story is the biggest obstacle to my becoming? I pulled Unfinished Symphony in protection (reversed). How often we get so close to the finish line of making a breakthrough, but then we quit out of fear or lack of confidence thus missing out on the big teaching and the thing that will catapult us forward and living from a new place of awareness.

I look at this reading today of what it would take to Become and clearly see I was being supported during the deep dive into my inner world this past year… and why receiving this certificate means so much to me…because I can say I busted through and had tremendous growth. I am not the same woman I was a year ago. And I’ve become the woman I knew I wanted to be. I’m dang proud of this.

It took tears, anger, stubbornness, believing, trusting, and faith…but I made it!

And while I’ll always be a work in progress, as we all are, it’s the new awareness I now carry with me that helps illuminate the way. And while I’ll still have challenges, it’s the remembering they are signposts to something greater to deepen my understanding about this journey I travel on planet earth.

It’s also been so rewarding to now encourage women through areas they feel stuck, gently invite them to open to change, and support them to become who they truly wish to be through my Oracle Guidance Sessions. If I can be of support to you, I’d be honored to do so.

XO,

Barb

Oracle Cards as Self-care for My Soul

Posted by Barbara Techel
Oracle Cards as Self Care for My Soul
Cards from Wisdom of the Oracle

If you’d like to listen to this post as an audio, I’m beginning an experiment and recording some of my posts. You can listen here.

Life isn’t fair. It’s all I could think about after adopting a special needs dog, Joie, and her passing away ten months later.

I was numb. I didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t understand. A writer, author, and blogger for over six years, I suddenly had nothing left to say. I was scared and didn’t know what my future would look like.

The truth was I’d been ignoring that voice within that had been urging me to slow down, take a break, and re-evaluate what it was I wanted next for my life. But I ignored it.

Until now. Here I was in this space with the one thing I needed to do, but pushed away for the past two years because I was afraid to look because of fear—fear of the unknown and fear of judgement.

The best thing I could do, and I now know looking back, was to honor that nudge that had been trying desperately to get my attention. And so I dropped everything in my professional life, and took a two month sabbatical. Even though it felt extremely uncomfortable the first two weeks to do what felt like nothing. 

But with an empty calendar and hours looming before me each day, I made the commitment to journal my thoughts, feelings, challenges, and disappointments in hopes the excavation would reveal my next best step.

It was on the second day of this sacred time that I was guided to pick up a card deck I’d had for quite some time called Grace Cards. While I’d not classify them specifically as an oracle deck, they would introduce me to how there is always a benevolent force of energy guiding us.

Just like many of the dogs in my life have been a reflection for me, guiding me to be my best self, the cards were uncanny in matching my words on the page and what was going on in my inner world as I moved through this time of learning to just be.

It was during this time of transition I’d come to see a deeper meaning to true self-care. While bubble baths, spending time in nature, yoga, and meditation is part of my self-care routine, it was pulling a daily oracle card and journaling with it I was able to move deeper into finding the courage to express what mattered to me.

While I’d write and publish, Wisdom Found in the Pause – Joie’s Gift about this inward journey I took in 2013,  I didn’t put any effort into marketing it like I’d done with my previous books. I’d eventually come to realize it was because of fear of judgement that people would think I was wonky for working with oracle cards as a tool for personal growth, as if it wasn’t valid. I’m grateful I now know better!

And it would be over the next few years, and continuing the journey of going inward, working with an animal communicator, a therapist, a pet counselor, and going through Oracle School, I would come to understand how old stories and past wounds I’d carried with me for far too long caused me to repeat patterns with my inner critic leading the way. The one who wanted me to believe I wasn’t good enough, smart enough, that others would judge me, and that what I said and believed didn’t matter.

Self-care came to be about owning all my feelings and emotions and then working to integrate them into pearls of wisdom. And that the wisdom I’d gained from those past hurts and old stories were part of what was integral in helping shape me into who I am. Without those experiences I wouldn’t be the person I am. So I could either continue to curse them, or I could learn from them, understand how they influenced my life, and then release them.

This is what true self-care means to me now. It’s about the willingness to continue to be with my feelings and emotions, even those times when it’s uncomfortable and I’d rather resist and push them away. While I’m not perfect at this, I continue to be in awareness of the gift of this new perspective and trust that these are signposts are guiding me to more compassion, love, and understanding of self.

The three cards I purposely chose to go along with my thoughts on true self care are from The Wisdom of the Oracle deck. They speak to how different our lives can be if we open to the truth in our hearts, remember that a higher power has our back, and how we are then granted more blessed moments when we live in this way.

XO,

Barb

Oracle Card as Self Care for My Soul