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?