Sunday, March 11, 2018
Tips for successful self-employment
Here are some tips I have learned about being successfully self-employed.
Develop a skill. More than having a business plan, having a skill is essential. Find something special and unique about your product or service that you do well. And then practice--and practice some more--to become really good at it.
Being a visual artist may not be that remarkable, but being skillful with my craft is. With skill comes wisdom and integrity. The wisdom to know how I work, and why--and the honesty to express this clearly.
When people purchase one of my drums, they often remark on how well made they are. Something being well made translates as being durable and beautiful.
Develop discipline. Having discipline does not mean having lofty intentions for your craft. It means staying home from the dinner invitation, choosing not to watch just one more episode on Netflix, resisting an afternoon scrolling through facebook.
Develop a web presence that is excellent as you can afford. If you are not tech-savvy then invest in someone who is to create a online presence for you. I maintain control of how my art is presented by inserting blogs within my website that allow me to update, delete and manage how and when my work is seen.
Tell your story. A large part of the Journey Oracle divination deck is the story of how I created the oracle cards across 23 years of puzzlement, mystery and insight.
Teach what you know. This is the fastest way to discover what you do not yet know.
And this of course creates more opportunities to practice more skills.
Friday, March 2, 2018
Free Oracle Reading: Why am I afraid to take action?
Think of a situation happening now in which you are afraid to take action. You have skillfully completed the preparation and nothing seems to be preventing you from moving forward, but you are experiencing a frozen inaction. What is the change that will shift your fear? Is it actually fear that is blocking your action, or some other feeling?
Your inner wisdom will lead you to a resolution when you follow the prompts of this four card oracle reading and meet the Journey Oracle. The reading will be even more effective if you print this post, and then write out answers to the questions posed by each oracle card. This way you will have a record of your Journey Oracle reading for reflection.
JOURNEY ORACLE CARD READING
An Oracle translates a problem or question into a language of image and symbol like that of dreams. It changes the way you experience a situation to connect you with the inner forces that are shaping it. An Oracle dialogues with your imagination—the creative basis of experience we call the unconscious.
This is a picture of
THE SITUATION
Describe
your first impressions of this image using simple phrases. Do not analyze, doubt or discard what your
inner voice is saying. When you feel inner quiet, go to the
Oracle’s identity.
Identity
of Oracle: Hunter's Full Moon Qualities of this Oracle: finding balance, slowing from growth, protection, release
Time
of year associated with this Oracle: October Full Moon
Why
this is the Oracle of your situation?
Question from the Oracle about your situation: Are
you holding back what's just right?
Why
are you receiving this question?
PRONOUNCEMENTS FROM THE ORACLE ABOUT
YOUR SITUATION
An Oracle reveals the
forces that are moving beneath your situation.
These sentences are not statements of logic
or reason. Write brief first impressions
next to the statement. If a statement
draws a blank from your unconscious, move on to the next sentence.
THE SITUATION
This situation began by unexpected arrival.
The prevailing energy of this situation
is shifting fog.
The core energy pattern of this
situation is black.
The Mother of this situation is red opening.
The Father of this situation is growing on stone.
ALIGNMENT TO
THE SITUATION
Your relationship to the prevailing
energy is flowing with light.
Your perception of the situation is veiled.
The impact of your perception is red.
The connection between the core energy
pattern and the situation
is felt as warm.
The momentum of this situation is fed by
found treasure.
This is
a picture of
YOUR
EXPERIENCE IN YOUR SITUATION
Describe your first impressions of this
image using simple phrases. Do
not analyze, doubt or discard what your inner voice is saying. When you feel inner quiet, go to the
Oracle’s identity.
Identity
of Oracle: Saille/Willow Qualities
of this Oracle: adaptable, hardy, intuitive, enduring
Time of year associated with this Oracle April 15 - May 12
Why
this is the Oracle of your experience?
Message
from the Oracle about your experience: tension
Why
are you receiving this message?
PRONOUNCEMENTS FROM THE ORACLE ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE
:
THE EXPERIENCE
NAMED
Tension
Why is this the name of your experience?
THE
SITUATION EXPERIENCED
judgemental
unexpected calm, multiple focus
not to stop here, competence
this is the one for me, falling into insight off spirit tower
Which of the above phrases are you experiencing most
directly right now?
Which phrases are you trying to avoid experiencing?
Which phrases are you seeking to experience?
If these phrases and spaces are a map of
your experience--where are you on the map?
EXTERIOR SUPPORT
An exterior or support system for the
situation is non-importance.
What
is the meaning of this for your situation?
The Journey Oracle’s answers change the
way you see things. Your anxieties, fears and desires emerge to be recognized
and resolved, and hidden transformative energies are released.
This is a picture of
THE CHANGE CALLING YOU
Describe your first impressions of this
image using simple phrases. Do not
analyze, doubt or discard what your inner voice is saying. When you feel inner quiet,
go to the Oracle’s identity.
Identity
of Oracle: Nion/Ash Qualities
of this Oracle: initiation, patience, expanding awareness
Time
of year associated with this Oracle: February 18 - March 17
Why
this is the Oracle of change?
Message
from the Oracle about change: endless dancing
Why
are you receiving this message?
PRONOUNCEMENTS FROM THE ORACLE ABOUT CHANGE
These statements bring an in-depth
recognition of the change you feel coming.
This change is an expression of the healing that is asking to happen.
Write brief first impressions next to each statement. If a statement draws a blank from your
unconscious, move on to the next sentence.
CHANGE
The power
needed to shift this situation will be a sound of contentment.
Change will
come by starting a war.
Your
relationship to the change in this situation is frigid.
The moment of
letting go into the change will smell of sex.
The concern to
be avoided within this change will taste of famine.
DIVINE
WILL
The wisdom of life still going on will empower the
transformation.
Completed transformation
will be felt as a quality of drifting in and out.
DREAM
ON THIS QUESTION
Are you willing to trade places?
HOW
IS THIS AN
ANSWER
Music
This is a picture of
THE RESOLUTION
Describe your first impressions of this
image using simple phrases. Do not
analyze, doubt or discard what your inner voice is saying. When you feel inner quiet,
go to the Oracle’s identity.
Identity
of Oracle: Mystery Qualities of this
Oracle: finding truth, wisdom
Time of year associated with
this Oracle: all time
Why
this is the Oracle of your resolution?
Question from the Oracle about your resolution: Are you happy here?
Why
are you receiving this message?
A FAIRY TALE FROM THE ORACLE ABOUT YOUR SITUATION
The dense weave of meaning in a fairy tale provides
insight into the hidden forces behind your situation, and points to the
resolution sought by your unconscious wisdom.
In this fairy tale,
your unconscious wisdom knows the names of all the characters, all the
connections to your situation, and what is the happy ending.
SEEING WHAT IS
LOVED
A pair of robins built a nest outside a
woman’s kitchen window. Back and forth the sleek, strong parents flew, and yet
she did not much attend to the new life’s manifestation that might be curling
inside that twiggy bowl. Then one day she saw a wee curving form and a flash of
translucent orange greet an adult bird’s arrival. The gaping mouths wavering on
rubbery stalks counted three, and from that moment the woman’s attention often
rested on the little family.
The hatchlings grew
until their jostling with each other for the offered morsels threatened to send
one over the edge. The woman began to wonder what she would do if a chick fell
out, or if the nest itself came down. She plotted how to keep the birds safe,
but always stopped short of action because it seemed this is how they are, even
when the chicks were so big that they would teeter on the edge of the nest,
buzzing their wings like whirligigs, reaching out always to say there is not
enough food.
One morning the woman
saw a chick sitting on a branch near the nest, receiving a morsel from its
skinny overworked parent. It was weaving a bit on its untrained feet and
rebalancing frequently with wild flutterings. “How can this be?” The woman
thought in alarm. “Surely it’s not time yet for the survival of the species
story.” But she resisted trying to help and just kept watching. And then, as if
someone said “one of you has to go”—all the birds were gone. No chicks were
left in the nest, the one on the branch could not be seen, and the parents no
longer came.
The woman went
outside, and saw a robin a distance away in the garden. Then another flew past
in the yard. A third dropped to the ground at the edge of the forest. “Is that
you, my friend,” she wondered, “or maybe your child?” Suddenly the woman was
seeing what she loved everywhere.
Who
are you in this story?
What
is the meaning of the story for your resolution?
Based
on your character in the story, now what are you now going to do?
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