We are all of us suddenly on a journey. Loss of comfort, heightened awareness, and unexpected discoveries characterize a journey. We are seeing paths everywhere, made of choices and actions that are tangled by hope and fear.
Why consult an Oracle during uncertain times? Isn't this just fakery woo woo? Maybe, but then again, maybe not. The Journey Oracle guides by showing traces of choices and possibilities that cross and parallel the ones we are presently seeing. It causes sudden shifts of perspective through symbol, metaphor and poem. This happens not by providing answers or offering advice, but by prompting revelation.
I just had this experience while reading Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates. When describing his black experience, he references Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address. He says that the issue is not "government of the people, for the people, and by the people," but rather, who defines "the people." Not people of colour, and not Indigenous people, and not people of my gender until maybe recently. I never even noticed the assumption inside that famous statement. This is the kind of revelation I mean when I say an Oracle prompts revelation. All of a sudden we see differently, and we find we have changed a view, a behavior, a circumstance.
Here is a Journey Oracle reading I did for guidance in these times of tangled hope and fear. The Oracle pronouncements are given in full in hopes that these Oracle cards will also speak to you. Insights from my own reading are in blue text. I share these to show what jumps out for me, not to influence your inner wisdom.
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.
This strongest of creatures, a metaphor for humans, is helpless, upside down, caught by something.
Identity
of Oracle: Duir (Oak) Qualities of this Oracle: durability, memory, protection, inspiration
Time
of year associated with this Oracle: June 10 - July 7
Why
this is the Oracle of your situation?
Message from the Oracle about your situation: no feminine bones in the body
Why
are you receiving this message?
"Feminine bones" might be an antidote to grasping, to aggression, to delusion about our human strength
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 looking for the source.
The prevailing energy of this situation
is gathering clouds.
The core energy pattern of this
situation is a holed stone.
The Mother of this situation is growing out.
The Father of this situation is growing tendrils.
YOUR ALIGNMENT TO THE
SITUATION
Your relationship to the prevailing
energy is like a bright eye.
Your perception of the situation is luminous.
The impact of your perception is glowing.
The connection between the core energy
pattern and the situation
is felt as a soft touch.
The momentum of this situation is fed by
looking beyond to deep truth.
This is
a picture of
YOUR
EXPERIENCE IN 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.
Even though the little deer seems sliding downward, it appears alert rather than panicked.
Identity
of Oracle: Fearn (Alder) Qualities
of this Oracle: prophecy, clear-sightedness
Time of year associated with this Oracle March 18 - April 14
Why
this is the Oracle of your experience?
Question from the Oracle your experience: Do you have first aid?
Why
are you receiving this question?
I love this question. It seems to suggest stay calm, pay attention, do only what is required in each moment.
THE EXPERIENCE
NAMED
HARDSHIP AVERTED
Why is this the name of your experience?
THE
SITUATION EXPERIENCED
a difficult day, taking care of the child
accidents from inattention
domesticity
fragile energy in being sweet
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 tenacity.
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.
This image is not clear. Maybe two faces touching. Perhaps about helping rather than harming.
Identity
of Oracle: North
Qualities
of this Oracle: the Earth of physicality, solidity, stability, form
Time
of year associated with this Oracle: all time
Why
this is the Oracle of change?
Message
from the Oracle about change: the message will be revealed
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 community. Very profound for me!
Change will
come by chanting the seeds.
Your
relationship to the change in this situation is like a sparkle.
The moment of
letting go into the change will be a heightened smell.
The concern to
be avoided within this change will taste exotic.
DIVINE
WILL
The wisdom of taking too long will empower the
transformation.
Completed
transformation will be felt as a quality of
mothering.
A beautiful thought for everyone and for the Earth.
DREAM
ON THIS QUESTION
Where will you dispose of the rest, after you've used it?
HOW IS THIS AN ANSWER
Sever
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.
Why
this is the Oracle of your resolution?
Question from the Oracle about your resolution: Are you the one willing to undo it?
Why
are you receiving this question?
A FAIRY TALE FROM THE ORACLE ABOUT THE RESOLUTION OF THE 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.
GIVING IN
A man accepted a position at a school
that was famous for its intensity. Although people on the outside envied him
his work, from the inside he felt a loss of freedom. One day after a harsh
exchange with his co-workers he was walking along the street—feeling
unworthy—when a small stone caught his attention. It was obviously natural and
yet shaped in a triangle, with smooth edges and regularly even sides. When he
picked it up he heard inside his head, “remember who you are.” He did remember
and so he left his job and moved far away. He kept the little stone always with
him, hidden from view in a braided grass basket.
Then the man met a woman
who had great oracular auricular power. The man spent time learning from the
woman who one day said they should exchange significant objects so each would
have a part of the other to care for. Although the man heard murmurs of
trespass inside his head he felt himself giving in, and gave her the little
stone.
Years went by and the
man never forgot the stone who had helped him remember who he was. Finally he
decided to return the woman’s object to her, and ask in exchange for the little
stone. “Oh no,” she replied, I just gave that stone away yesterday to another
woman who seemed in need of it.” The man was bereft. How could he have waited
so long to only just miss his treasure.
The man wanted the new
person to know of his request and so the woman gave the man the new address.
The man sent his story, but then months went by and the man gave in to sorrow.
Like family memories of past times that shift with the telling, he believed the
story that he was unworthy to have the stone, and that now it was lost to him
forever.
And then one day a package arrived. It contained the little
stone in its braided grass basket, and a note that said, “Do you remember who
this is?”
