Since we’ve recently transitioned to the fall season in the Northern Hemisphere, I wanted to share my Fall card.
What am I harvesting in my life?
Fall is a season of transition, hanging between summer’s energetic warmth and winter’s cold stillness. It is a time of harvest, for reaping the bounty of seeds you have planted. Taking it to a personal level, fall (and the Fall card) is a great time to reflect on what you have learned and gained from recent experiences. How will you utilize what you have gained to nourish yourself in the time ahead?
Card images and symbols: changing color leaf, tree, pumpkin, field, gray sky (changing weather), shovel (for harvesting or digging).
When I think of fall, I think of many of the typical things: changing and falling leaves, pumpkin or pumpkin spice flavored everything, Halloween, corn mazes. I love putting on layers and feeling the refreshing touch of the cooler air. I also think of preparing for winter. I consider winter to be an internal season whose energy lends itself to stillness and reflection. Fall turns towards that as we continue to lose light in the day. Many things fade and begin to die in the fall, but there is also space to gather, learn, and remember.
Want your own set of Sacred Spiral Oracle Cards? Here is the link to purchase your own set in my Etsy shop. Enter 10SPIRAL at checkout for 10% off!
How do I trust my instincts and intuition? How can I honor my individual spirit and be part of my family or community?
From the wolf as the misunderstood character in fairy tales to the tale of La Loba who sings the bones of wolves back to life (as retold by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes in Women Who Run with the Wolves), the wolf is a dynamic archetype.
There is the wolf pack, a symbol of community. There is the social hierarchy of the pack. The lone wolf: isolated, alienated, solitary.
For my Wolves card, I chose to focus on wolves as a symbol of community and in maintaining the self in the midst of community. I also looked at wolves as a reminder to trust instincts and intuition.
When you are in a group of people, I encourage you to notice: Do you feel part of it? Do you strive to blend or fit in? Do you lead, follow, or a combination? No matter what role you play, are you being true to yourself while doing so? If not, how can you honor yourself more? Are you happy with the role you are playing in the group? Is there another role you would like to play?
The Wolves card reminds us that we can be part of something larger while still being true to ourselves.
You can find more information about my oracle cards here. Here is the link to purchase your own set in my Etsy shop. Enter 10SPIRAL at checkout for 10% off!
Selections of this come from my oracle card book. Other parts come from the inspiration for the images and current reflections.
This card’s question: What is true for me in this situation? What is my deepest truth?
For me, truth — mainly telling the truth to myself about myself, what is true for me — resonates through my entire being. It centers in my heart, but it’s also rooted in my entire body. I’m now imagining sitting against a tall tree with a wide trunk and large, deep roots. I feel centered, grounded, and clear. I can sense my own truth when I am most connected to myself.
Main images: Feather, Scale, Eye
For Ancient Egyptians, Ma’at was the goddess of truth, liberty, justice, and harmony. It was said that after people died, the goddess Ma’at weighed people’s hearts on a scale against a single feather. If they had lived a virtuous life, their heart would be lighter than the feather, and the gods could deem them worthy of paradise. The main symbols and images for Ma’at were a white ostrich feather or the profile of a winged woman with an ostrich feather on her head. Ma’at also served as a principle of truth, harmony, and cooperation that guided people’s behaviors, culture, and lives in Ancient Egyptian society. If you’re curious, there is more information here.
The eye on the oracle card represents the symbol and story of Ma’at but also being able to see and sense one’s own truth and be in integrity with oneself.
How do you know when you’re standing in your truth? What is true for you right now? What comes to mind when you see this card?
You can find more information about my oracle cards here. Here is the link to purchase your own set in my Etsy shop. Enter 10SPIRAL at checkout for 10% off!
I recently returned from a Nia training in Portland, Oregon. There, I spent a wonderful week dancing, learning, and connecting with like-minded movers and dancers.
I also shared my oracle cards.
When my husband suggested I bring them with me, I wasn’t intending to share them. Well, maybe I would share them with my host or bring them out during a break. Maybe I would just use them for guidance in the mornings or evenings.
The cards had other ideas. One morning, as I was getting ready, I was checking in with myself: Is there anything else I need to bring?
The answer came: Bring your oracle cards.
I don’t have to share them, I thought. But then I pulled a card and got this:
The truth card. I had to laugh. It was the most appropriate card I could have picked. I was in the middle of the Nia Blue Belt training, which focuses on communication and intimacy. And one of the elements in the training is truth-telling, starting with telling myself the truth about myself.
I think I have to share them, I thought. And so, during our open sharing time that afternoon (about what we’ve learned that day, what has come up for us in general, anything goes), I told the story and shared this card, passing it around the circle. Several of my fellow trainees later asked to see more of the cards.
I felt incredibly vulnerable after sharing. These cards have become part of my story. They took over three years from start to finish, from the first line drawn to final printing. I initially created them as part of a personal growth program, but I finished them on my own terms.
I recognize that sharing them in a circle like that is a way of promoting them as a product, but that wasn’t my original intention. My intention was simply to share my art. My art and my creativity is part of who I am, part of my truth. I shared my art twice during the training: the first time was the vision board that I created before the training, and the second was the cards.
My Blue Belt vision board that I created a week before the training.
I did receive some orders as a result of sharing the cards, the first of which was the last set of my first printing from two years ago. So I ordered more sets. You can find them in my Etsy shop here.
I’m realizing how important sharing is in my own creative process. Yes, I share on social media and whatnot, but it’s also important I share in a variety of forums. So I’m setting an intention to share more of my cards and their stories and meanings here.
Yes, there is a vulnerability in sharing my work. But there is also this: by giving myself permission to share my own work and creativity, I also connected with other people about theirs. People came up to me afterward and shared about their art, how they hoped to get back into it. Art can be deeply personal, and it also has a universal language that can speak to the creativity within each person.
Inspired by a picture of oracle cards arranged in the shape of a spiral, I decided to try it with my cards. I thought it was appropriate, considering I call them Sacred Spiral Oracle cards.
Since my cards are 4×6″, it took up a decent amount of space to include all 41. There was some meaning to how I laid out the cards: It tells a story that begins with confusion and resistance, leading to self-exploration and journeying, and ending in feeling powerful and at home.
I have to say: The drums and the rainstick that live in that corner of the living room look pretty good with the cards.
When I’ve introduced my cards to people, and they pull a card, a common question is: “What does this card mean?”
I refer to the book that comes with my oracle cards as a “book of insights.” I have created guiding questions and an overall description of the potential meaning of each card. Ultimately, the question I often want to ask: “What does this card mean to you? How does it apply to your life? How do you relate to the theme of the card? How are you aware of this theme in your life?”
In other words, I do not view these cards as having just one fixed meaning. I don’t see them as having reversed meanings, either – where the cards while mean something different if pulled facing upside down.
I see these cards as intuitive tools, and my hope is that they help people strengthen and trust their intuition. I hope they help guide people.
When I pull my oracle cards, I see it as similar to a conversation. “Okay, so what are you telling me?” Sometimes my response when I pull a card is like, “Yeah, yeah, I know. Thanks for the reminder.”
Sometimes people like to do oracle spreads – laying out multiple oracle cards to give a more detailed reading of a specific situation. A simple one is a past, present, future spread, which uses three cards to reflect where you have been, where you are, and where you may be going. Here are more ideas for spreads that another intuitive card reader has gathered: http://lightnloveguidance.weebly.com/tarotoracle-spreads.html
More ideas on how to use the Sacred Spiral Oracle Cards:
Use as part of your daily spiritual practice
Choosing a theme for the year on New Year’s or a birthday
Use the questions as journal prompts
Use as guidance for a specific decision or situation
How do you like to use oracle cards or other divination tools? How do you respond to a card’s meaning, whether it is based on your own intuitive interpretation or a written description?
At long last: I’m mere weeks away from releasing my first printing of my oracle card deck, Sacred Spiral Oracle. I even created a section for it here on my website. And today, which is the Summer Solstice, I created my listing for pre-orders on Etsy!
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This deck has truly been a labor of love and healing. I created the original handmade cards in tribute to two years I devoted to a holistic healing program. I continued to work on them sporadically for the next three years to bring them to their current form through times of depression, struggle, healing, and recovery.
Summer is a time of great heat and energy. For me, it seems like everything happens at a faster pace, and yet the heat also can feel heavy and draining. It’s also a great time to bring projects into fruition.
I apologize – I’ve been neglecting my website and business blog. Here’s some of what I’ve been doing:
Finishing my oracle cards! I just submitted an order to print the first sets of cards, which I should get in the next two weeks or so. My current plan is to start with a small number, and if there’s enough interest, I’ll get more printed. I also ordered a proof of my oracle card book. I’m planning on beginning to sell them this summer, so stay tuned!
I’m still making some jewelry. These are from a new collection I’m working on. I’m experimenting with playing with wire in an organic, free-form way and creating unique pieces that stand out.
In April, I participated in Susannah Conway’s April Love month, and did quite a bit of art and writing based on those prompts. Here is one.
I also learned how to make ear cuffs!
I’ll post more updates soon! I’ll definitely send out a newsletter once my cards are ready, so if you aren’t already subscribed, sign up here.
Seeking Spirit Designs 