LaniBusyB, Prof Sputnik and The Elephant Stuck in The Mud
Intro
It's been a few winks since my scandalous 41st birthday month and last blog post. In the interim, my Dad passed away (22 July 2013) - which forced me on a path of re-birth and awakening. Well, Spring has sprung and mourning needed a new dawn...
Tears dried up by the sweet smell of new ground breaking through surrender and acceptance, here I am: prone to new beginnings and enlightened by a Kundalini Yoga long-weekend in Magaliesberg. Caught up with old friends and made some new ones.
My spirit is rearing to embark on a journey to reimburse the 'old' self with infusions of love and newness. It's been fun to get out (read: sweat and hard work), with two Body Alignment Treatments c/o Nina Frank in Linden under the belt. Tomorrow yet again, we'll tackle unblocking and reinforcement - empires built on the soul's journey!
The Enchanted Map - a new tale...
This story is not a daily or date diary. It sets out as an Epic journey, as yet unforeseen and unanticipated. A quantum leap or loop, who knows? The first scene plays off where my learned friend, Professor Sputnik, and I jet off Gupta-style to Estoril Books, Cresta. How else to satiate a brunch of tea and soup? Some heavy browsing, of course.
While the Prof succumbs to his penchant for Angel cards, I wonder what my first deck of divination tools will look like... and if I really want any. Then I'm drawn to a lonely box on the bottom shelf: The Enchanted Map! The theme seems adventurous enough, so I press PAY.
My inner roads are much-traveled, but new vantage points seem to materialise at every fork. So this tale is one of Epic self-discovery, smile-provokingly age-appropriate with mirth in the telling...
My first tentative steps onto the Map
The way the cards work: you can simply draw one to provide guidance on a question, draw three to represent a past vantage point, present state and future probability, or you could draw six, which would add between present and future what you resist, where unexpected help may come from, and your next right acion.
The oracle cards, designed by Colette Baron-Reid, are not meant to answer simple yes/no questions, but rather serve as an intuitive guide that helps you (working with your own psyche) to explore the path you're on and get in deeper touch with Spirit guidance. In short, it's a nifty way to find your own deeper Quest. And the more you play, the more aligned your intuition becomes (I can vouch for this).
There are 54 beautifully illustrated cards in the deck, and a card can be drawn facing up or reversed (providing two slightly different meanings). Reversed cards are powerful as they shed the most light on you inquiry by asking you to review the shadow side of what the card represents Each card has an overarching kind of mantra message attached to it.
My first ever reading
20 October 2013
Having read the manual (like all good female citizens) three times, I decided to test the waters by asking a simple first question: 'What situation am I in?'
I drew three cards (like you would from a Tarot reader):
PAST: Goblins (5) PRESENT: Ghostlands (17 reversed) FUTURE - Metamorphosis (25)
The mantras for each read as follows:
Past: 'Fear is an Illusion. Choose love today. Forgive yourself and others.' A reminder to choose love and forgiveness today.'Present: 'You can learn from the past and imagine a beautiful future, but you must live in the here-and-now.' Future: 'You are in the process of deep and beautiful change.'
Having been pretty shaken by the unexpected death of my parent, mentor and best friend, this made very good sense, and provided a heartening futuristic message. Not a bad start, I thought...
So I ventured my second question: 'Where best to start manifesting this change?'
I drew one card: Home (27). The mantra read as follows: 'You are comfortable in your own skin. You belong.' This card addresses the attributes one would associate with the idea of home: peace, security, safety, belonging... inviting you to feel safe in your own skin - no matter what is happening in the world around you.
To re-cap, my first experiment with the cards provided spot-on answers and left ample space for reflection! Past dramas in the Love Department (situated adjacent to the Family Store and opposite Business Games) roasted my bones, for sure. I'd been single since my very sad break-up in May 2012, possibly amplifying my loneliness when my Dad died. I need to find (somewhere in my heart) this place called 'Forgive Ness' (related to Loch of Scotland). No jokes, even the Kundalini weekend's sub-theme was gender reconciliation! So the cards? The don't lie.
Coincidentally, I've already made tentative strides from the Ghostlands by joining a dating site again. So, like a young seedling, I'm trying. Again. Honestly, at this stage, I'll only dive in any deep end once I know the depth, the critters residing down there and why I'm expected to dive in the deep end in the first place!
So back to the future. According to the cards, I'm on the right path. Always nice to hear of positive change - so we'll see...
The last answer evoked a smile. 'Be comfortable in your own skin.' Always a bummer when you're feeling tentative, somewhat petrified and slightly irritated at your own insecurities after a long while off-scene and off-centre.Well, if my charms are skin-deep, I may as well continue as I am...
The next day
21 October 2013
All excited and being 'just a girl' 'though not remotely from Notting Hill, my third question was slightly leading, but a good lesson in how these cards align energetically to Truth! It had everything to do with a certain fluttering of the heart and precious little with the general question: 'What is this situation I find myself in?'
I drew one card: Ghostlands (17). The mantra read as follows: 'Whenever you set your sights too far ahead, you run the risk of losing your footing.'
Serves me right! This card is a reminder that the present and future rarely match up exactly on the Enchanted Map that is my life story, because the future has no substance right now. You can't live there, yet you can take measured steps toward a goal or dream. These steps are important now. The same goes for nostalgia. You can look into the past wistfully and remember beautiful moments or revisit lessons learned. However, you can't live there, nor can you go back and change what was. Yesterday is gone forever. Live fully in the present. The "now" is the most powerful place to put your attention. Its magic reaches out in every direction, further than the heart and soul can see.' Pretty poetic, that bit... But a warning to me, all the same!
On reflection, I know this truth: I get excited and rushed and don't think things through. Trying to unravel why, I realise that I'm scared if I don't move forward fast enough, I may fall back into the past. Often, I'm unsure of what I see in the present (like a gift, unwrapped, with Chinese instructions). And sometimes, I'm so busy chasing future possibilities that I'm tone-deaf to wisdom or my own long-term preferences. I've been known to do some silly things just to get out of that uncomfortable place/space/feeling: forward, backward, anything but the cacophony of head vs. heart...
Maybe to atone, I asked my fourth question: 'So how do I measure my steps?'
I drew one card: Stuck in the Mud (24). The mantra read as follows: 'You're being invited to stop and savour the wonder of your life.'
Ever heard of a Fire Sign? Well, sage advice nonetheless, that I plan to attempt following! The card says that becoming stuck is sometimes the only way to trick yourself into slowing down and looking around you. In fact, this is a sign that you need to shift your focus away from what you're doing and place your attention elsewhere. Struggling will only get you to even muddier places.
I dare say, these cards and I... I see a lot of long conversations!
Well, the haunted hour is arriving and the power is yet again off in my area - next to the cemetery, no less! So it's time to blow out the candles and snuggle up next to my munchkin who, by the way, is 5 year old now (and she won't let you forget it).
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