#self work

hillbillyoracle:

I wanted to develop a challenge that helps diviners develop core skills that sustain long term practice. Or in less clinical terms, there’s a ton of stuff for newbie card readers but you, my friend, are in this for the long haul. You’re gonna need a strong foundation for when you’re reading cards ten, twenty years from now. 

This month we focus on self awareness. 

I have trouble putting into words just how important this skill is. Knowing how your perception is colored and limited is key to giving good readings. A reader needs to have a sense of when their personal bias is creeping into a reading. Just went through a break up? You need to know when you’re projecting that unhappiness onto other readings. Just got a new job? You need to know when you’re feeling unreasonably optimistic given the cards in front of you. 

For this challenge, you’ll pull two cards. One you select and one you shuffle/draw at random. The goal is to see how closely your perspective of yourself aligns with your deck, to give your deck a chance to check you. Feel to start this challenge whenever you feel like it, well after May even. If you post this somewhere else, please credit me and link to my tumblr if you can. Use the tag “#hillbillyoracle may tarot challenge” for posts so we can all support each other.

1 T – What is your current situation? 
2 W – Who are you in your situation?
3 T – What happened leading up to this situation?
4 F – What will happen in the immediate future?
5 S – What is the root of the situation?
 6 S – What advice are you getting from gods/spirits/the Universe?
7 M – What talents do you bring to the situation?
8 T – How do the people around you see the situation?
9 W – What are your hopes?
10 T – What are your fears?
11 F – What have you been ignoring lately?
12 S – What should your next action be?
13 S – What lesson are you learning from your situation?
14 M – Who in your life should you make amends with?
15 T – How should you make amends with them?
16 W – What’s the state of your friendships?
17 T – How can you improve them?
18 F – What’s the state of your relationships with family?
19 S – How can you improve them?
20 S – What’s the state of your romantic life?
21 M – How can you improve it?
22 T – What’s the state of your relationship with yourself?
23 W – How can you improve it?
24 T – What’s the state of your relationship with the world around you?
25 F – How can you improve it?
26 S – What the state of your relationship with spirits/gods/The Universe?
27 S – How can you improve it?
28 M – What is holding you back in your spiritual path?
29 T – How can you break free?
30 W – What has changed over the last month?
31 T – What lessons did you take away from the challenge? 

I am so here for this.

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of TraumabyBessel Van Der Kolk

Let it be known that I have yet to finish this book, but it has already been such an invaluable read that I feel compelled to recommend it, with a bit of a disclaimer. 

I’m on Part Four, Chapter 11, Page 171. I’ve had it for six weeks. It’s due back at the library now. I’m going to have to (gladly) purchase a copy to get through it. It’s been such a challenging read. I put it down a few weeks ago because I was experiencing unpleasant visceral reactions during/after reading it. 

On that note, I would advise exercising awareness while reading this - if you become disturbed, tense, or sick, put it down, take care of yourself, and come back to it when you’re able. This is especially important for anyone with a history of acute, prolonged, and/or repeated exposure to trauma/abuse.

It focuses primarily on childhood trauma/abuse/neglect and the effects it has on the developing brain and organism. Thoroughly enlightening stuff here. While the information presented isn’t entirely foreign to me, having it all laid out in this way has put so much in perspective for me, in terms of my own behavior and that of my partner’s, as well as a great deal of the human population for that matter. 

Anyway, it’s a must read imo. And I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of it before this year, but I guess I just wasn’t ready for it - I hardly am now. 

Gosh, nothing feels better than an energetic cleansing, especially when it goes deep enough to bring you to tears.

Grab the salt, the sage, the blessed water - whatever it is that does it best for you - and get to sloughing off any negative attatchments or general grime. It’s the perfect time of year for it, like clearing a garden so the spring flowers have room to grow.

Personally I love a bath with some blessed salts and a fancy bath bomb full of rejuvenating essential oils. All that ick goes right down the drain with the water.