Here is a Journey Oracle reading for Imbolc. Instead of drawing 4 cards as is my usual way of choosing the Oracle who will speak, I "drew" the first 4 numbers I saw on my laptop screen.
1 for the calendar square showing February 1
8 for the 8 degrees temperature at Campbell River airport.
249 from a Microsoft app add that became
24
and 9.
The side of the oracle card chosen either had the cursor arrow land on it, or it was the first image of the two possible, that I saw when I found the number.
This oracle card image is my situation. What seed dreams am I planting? I have drawn this card before and usually notice the little opening at the end of what looks like a stone cave or tunnel.
This time I am seeing what appears to be an edge, a precipice, on the right hand side. Perhaps there is a springy shape to hold on to, or maybe I just need to jump over the edge.
Here is the Journey Oracle page that describes my situation:
THE SITUATION
This situation began by being all set up.
The prevailing energy of this situation is laden with dirt.
The core energy pattern of this situation is dark and foreboding.
The Mother of this situation is exotic.
The Father of this situation is a line in the sand.
ALIGNMENT TO THE SITUATION
Your perception of the situation is fleeting.
The impact of your perception is varied.
The impact of your perception is varied.
Your relationship to the prevailing energy is filled with wonder.
The connection between the core energy pattern and the situation
is felt as a distressing touch.
The momentum of this situation is fed by going asleep.
Since many of my shamanic and ritual practices have either disappeared or changed dramatically over the past month, and I am asking for seed dreams to plant that will grow into new understanding and action, I am especially moved by the first and last of these pronouncements. If this is an image and a description of a situation of yours, what is the Oracle telling you?
This oracle card picture shows my experience in this situation.
Here is the Oracle's messages about what I am experiencing, and how I am naming it.
THE
EXPERIENCE NAMED
MORE WISDOM
THE SITUATION EXPERIENCED
struggle / simplicity
hardship leaks through, accountability,
loyal companion
look deeper, irritation
beginning of new awareness,
strengths vulnerabilities
my life is a mess
An exterior or
support system for the situation is whimsy.
I am drawn to the first phrase of the situation experienced: struggle / simplicity.
Feeling adrift without my usual anchors could be frightening if I hold on, or relaxing if I let go. Just like the two eyes of this powerful bear. One is clear and one is difficult to make out. In your situation, which phrases describe your current experience?
I have always felt unsettled by this painting, since its original inspiration was a description of meeting the Spirit of Disease in a shamanic journey. Still, upon a closer look, the Spirit appears quite neutral. I suspect I have always attributed more wrath and retribution to the Spirit World than is indicated.
Here is the Journey Oracle page describing change:
CHANGE
The power needed to shift this situation will
be a sharp sound.
Change will come by knowing there is no way.
Your relationship to
change in this situation is growing up
from
the bottom.
The moment of letting
go into the change will smell like blood.
The concern to be
avoided within this change will taste fresh.
DIVINE WILL
The wisdom of coming to bed will empower the
transformation.
Completed
transformation will be felt as a quality of coiling.
DREAM ON THIS
QUESTION
Can you make
something similar?
HOW IS THIS
AN ANSWER
Gratitude
I especially like the answer: Gratitude. What a richly rewarding time I have had building a relationship with the Spirit World across these 42 years. Of course I can build something similar, just go to bed and dream. The seeds will show themselves. What change is showing itself to you in your situation?
This oracle card reveals the resolution to my situation. What could be better than choosing the number and discovering a green sprout?
I think my favorite part of doing a Journey Oracle reading is discovering the fairy tale that shows the resolution coming to the situation. And this green sprout has an old, wise face.
THE RESOLUTION
A Journey Oracle fairy tale
STAYING
FOUND
There was a little girl who was like a
green sprout in the woods, always poking through leaf mold and spongy wood to
find tiny forest creatures to gaze upon. One very early morning she was going
with other children on a hike to the beach, which was quite a distance from
where she and her friends were camping with adults who called themselves by
funny names like Chipper, Squirrel and flower.
All the children set off
into the matrix of misty dawn, but the little green sprout girl fell behind
because she stopped to touch the earth where the moss grew feathery cups filled
with dew between the toes of the cedar tree giants. The little girl looked up
to see the trail ahead was empty; there was no sight or sound of her laughing
companions. She felt a chill of fear at her sudden isolation, and felt that
finding her friends was like the promise of spring in bleak winter.
The little girl began to
run. She ran with a focused prayer in all her body: that around each next clump
of reaching-out trees she would see her companions. She ran, journeying with
vibrations of fog and shadow, jumping roots and ducking branches, but never did
she overtake her friends. How could it be that people so close at one moment
could become so far away the next? In her child mind she thought “you’ve tapped
into something from way back.”
She saw that
she was running toward the lightening sky beyond the trees. The opening
expanded to show a glitter-filled ocean as she burst from the forest and
bounded along deep sand trails through the dunes to the water. She ran now for
the joy of staying found, even as she saw the distant specks on the wet sand
become the other children. She ran out of the realm of her fear and into
maturation that morning.
How is this a story of the resolution for your situation? If you are the little green sprout girl, what have you tapped into from way back? And what are you running toward?
