So excited for this new deck by Colette Baron-Reid to finally be in my hands! I did a video of me opening the deck for the first time so you could join in the fun and excitement too.
I hope you enjoy!
XO,
Barb
oracle readings
You Can’t Take Flight If You Don’t Let Go – Message from Hummingbird
Some of my dreams of late have been filled with a relationship I’d thought I’d completely let go of. Today I woke up frustrated that yet another dream last night had me wrestling with trying to understand what had happened and why couldn’t I just let this go for good.
After my morning meditation, I grabbed my journal and asked what it was I needed to know to completely let go of this person who left from my life quite a few years ago. Pulling an oracle card from the Mystical Shaman Oracle, one of my favorite decks to work with, I received, The Hummingbird.
I felt my frustration melt. Hummingbird so significant for me in the deep knowing I experienced in 2012, two weeks after my dachshund, Frankie passed, and she visited me as a hummingbird, fluttering within inches of my face for several seconds. It still makes my heart expand to this day recalling that beautiful moment.
Before turning to the guide book I journaled that hummingbird was sharing with me that I won’t have peace, joy or freedom if I hold onto resentment in that this relationship had ended in such an abrupt and hurtful-to-me way. I realized that if this person had stayed in my life, it would have been restrictive because I felt that not only did it feel like I gave more than received, but also in that I gave much of my power away, also.
Turning to the booklet what really jumped out at me was the line, “Hummingbird teaches us to be gentle to ourselves and protect personal space.”
I was reminded that, of course, I have a choice of whether or not I allow that relationship to continue to take up space within my inner world.
Additional insight said, “Bypass the dung pile of old pain and hurts, head for flowers, and learn to trust the calling you hear ever so softly.”
So true, I thought. It is indeed time for me to take flight away from this old wound. If I stay living in that story, I won’t have the energy to fulfill my new mission as an Oracle Guide.
As I sat in contemplation a bit longer another oracle card which has been showing up often lately for me from the same deck, Wild Woman, showed itself to me quite vividly in my mind. She is the woman I have the choice to claim each and every day.
I choose to live in the here and now, and see that past relationship as a gift, in that if I’d still be there, I’d not have had learned what I needed to in order to evolve into who I now am.
“Still your mind and heed the gentle voice that calls to you to test new wings.”
So many experiences in our lives are indeed part of helping us test our wings, so that we can continue to gain more confidence with who we already are. I’m thankful for the poignant message, and just what I need to hear today, from Hummingbird.
XO,
Barbara
Getting Back to What Matters
You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes you. This is the place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen. ~Joseph Campbell
So many distractions this morning that could have easily derailed me from my commitment to working on my new book. Waking up late because I didn’t feel well overnight, to John being crabby, of which he eventually shared with me it was regarding a work challenge, to the insurance company calling to help me file my claim for the damage to my car from a hit and run.
When I first became a writer, I admit I was entranced by the fantasy of solitude and spilling out the contents of my heart effortlessly on a daily basis. I’ve learned a lot in eleven years and the reality that is. While there are many days it is divine and flows with ease, most days just don’t shake out this way. Writing is work. But it’s work I don’t intend on giving up anytime too soon.
Though I almost threw in the towel today and said the heck with it. I’m tired after a restless night, the energy was heavy in the house with John’s concerns over work, and then dealing with three different people regarding the claim on my car….well, a nap sure seemed like the better thing to do. 🙂
But I thought about the manifesto I’d written for my book yesterday and my About Page I recently updated on my website. While this book is another memoir, it’s more than that. It’s about helping empower women to open to their inner voice, express their fears and desires, expand their perspective, emerge into new possibilities, and continue to evolve as their True Self.
Sitting down to do my daily oracle card reading for myself and then journal as my daily ritual, it was confirmed what I needed to tap into to get my butt in my writing chair despite all the distractions from the morning.As I shuffled, I heard to count down to the fourth card from the top.
From the Wisdom of the Oracle: Higher Power #4
I then pulled a card from an inspirational deck I recently provided feedback for (of which I can’t share yet as it is still in the works, but will share when I can!).
The card was SHARE.
Okay, universe. I hear you. A reminder that I’m not writing this book alone. To get out of my small self that was feeling tired and irritated by how the morning had played out so far. I’m not creating this book alone and it’s my connection to something bigger than me that I felt re-energized and ready to get to the task at hand. Pulling the Share card a reminder that in sharing my story, I will make a difference in the lives of women my book is meant to touch.
And it triggered remembering a quote I recently read by Joseph Campbell which I shared above. It’s true the importance of taking time each day to “simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen.”
This place, of which I have as a physical space in my writing cottage, I also feel it’s important to say that it’s also that inner space that we must take time to be with each day. Though, of course, this is what Joseph Campbell speaks to also. While the physical place is often more easily achieved, it’s the inner space we don’t always value enough in a fast-driven society. But it’s the space in which the answers lie.
From sitting with what felt like an empty well after the interruptions of the morning, to finding my center once again, moving to my writing desk became a choice that truly matters to me and the impact I want to leave on the world. And while my writing session wasn’t without effort today, I’m in a place of contentment for having stayed committed to what is important to me.
Just as I finished writing this post, I remembered the photo I captured of a swallowtail butterfly outside my kitchen window early last evening. Looking up it’s meaning made me smile as another beautiful reminder of how the universe is always supporting us with signs to guide us along our path:
Inspiration, intuition, higher consciousness, transformation, resurrection, flashes of insight, power of beauty, strength in vulnerability.
XO,
Barbara
P.S. My reward for doing what matters today besides feeling good I did the work? This afternoon I’m going with my dear friend to see the movie, Christopher Robin with Winnie-the-Pooh and the Gang! I’m sure glad author A.A. Milne did what mattered to him.