When I do a Journey Oracle reading, I am aware I am communicating with a presence from this reality with the veils removed; the more than human reality I call the spirit world. This presence might have any of the physical forms found in this world, as all have conscious awareness. I am describing what Ralph Metzner calls "an animistic worldview, which is explicit in shamanism, [that] recognizes that all natural forms are animated by living, spiritual intelligence."
When I am doing an oracle reading for a client, I listen carefully for anecdotes shared during the oracle session that might indicate who is the Oracle for this person at this time? Perhaps a person is listening to the Journey Oracle story corresponding to the card she drew, and suddenly thinks of a carved staff brought back from a holiday in Peru. Something about the story of obtaining the staff fits the situation being explored in the oracle reading. Is the spiritual intelligence in the wood and art of the staff the Oracle in this moment?
When I conduct Journey Oracle workshops, my participants spend time experiencing a shamanic journey into the spirit world to meet the Oracle of their cards. For some this Oracle is a force--like rain or smoke-filled wind, sometimes the Oracle is a voice rising from a meadow or sounding within a seashell. Others see figures not of this human world, or sometimes from the animal or plant kingdoms. I ask each person who purchases a Journey Oracle deck from me to spend some time meeting the Oracle of their cards. I suggest they ask this presence what gift to give, to thank and feed them for bringing revelation from the natural wold into our ordinary reality.
