Mama Ocean

Since my Gaian Oracle Deck arrived I have done a series of life-changing readings. I am astonished at how direct and unambiguous this deck is. I have been studying the Tarot seriously for almost a decade now - I own half a dozen decks, and I have never had such a deep and intuitive response to a deck. I have done 6 readings with it in the week that I have had it, and each one has been revelatory.

One of the aspects that has come through very strongly, is that now is the time for me to start treading the Pathway of the Priestess. I have been putting this off for a long time as I find it really hard to get to grips with what I would actually Do. 

When I see what other women are doing on this Pathway, I feel constrained. I do not feel wise enough to offer counsel. I have no special intuitive or healing gifts. I do not wish to follow the Pathway set down by someone else. It all seems a bit.... humourless, although I suspect that is my interpretation, rather than the reality. I want a Pathway that is joyful, comforting and hearty - like a bellyful of hot stew on a cold, rainy day. Not deeply mystical, hey ?!

But, once again, a series of threads in my life have started to draw together in a synchronistic weaving that has quite literally taken my breath away. 

I got in contact with Tamara Lampard, who is a Priestess of a most eclectic and joyful path - I thought if anyone could help me, it was her - I met her a few times when she was running the Sun, Moon and Stars in Maylands - she runs Spiritual development courses, and is also a Celebrant. She is also a very joyful person - and I thought if anyone could steer me in the right direction it would be her. 

It turns out that she is running a Cauldron of Brigid - a sort of Celtic sweatlodge - on the week of the first eclipse in June - June 4th to be precise. I contacted her and signed up. My first proper step on the Pathway - how exciting !!!

One of the requests she makes for the Cauldron is to bring an instrument or drum. Now I have no instrument but my Voice, but I thought I would see if there were any instructions on the Net on how to make your own hoop drum. The very first site I hit was that of Jozina who is actually HERE in Perth (this doesn't happen very often - usually the workshop is in Canada or something equally unhelpful....) and she is holding a drum making course the Sunday the 5th June.... Shivers began to run up my arms - a sure sign that something is up... 

I checked her About Me page, and saw that she lives in Pinakarri Community in Hamilton Hill. Now I am very interested in Intentional Communities - I did my Honours Thesis on the subject, and I am always up for a stickybeak. I didn't know there was a Community in Hamilton Hill and eagerly looked up their site to see if they had an open day or something similar where I could go along and meet them and ask questions - almost all Intentional Communities have something like this.... 

Well, its the first Friday of every month, which in June would be - yep Friday 3rd June. So of course I sent them an email and signed up... 

Do you get the feeling that the first Eclipse is going to be a big week for me ?! I honestly feel that this all happened because I made that reading and made the firm commitment in my heart to follow this Path and to make it work for me and to make it actually happen.

BUT WAIT... There's more...

I made a piece of artwork some time ago called "Firing Arrows" in which I listed all the things I REALLY want. REALLY REALLY WANT. Those things that truly make my heart sing. One of these is "A gorgeous house on a hill, overlooking the Ocean" and so I did a reading on it. I should like to point out that Denmark in WA is one of the few places on the coast which has a view over trees to the ocean, and which is also affordable.

So here was the reading statement of Intent:

"I want us to move to a house in Denmark WA. I'd  like the view from my window to be of forest & Ocean. I want to leave when our current lease is up ie: by Damien's birthday at the end of August. I want it to be easy and fun" 

The View

I used James Wells' Helpful All-Purpose Spread, and the Outcome was the Card you see at the top of this entry - Mama Ocean. I'd say that was a YES !!!

BUT WAIT... There's more...

After I packed up my Cards, feeling quite excited and happy, my eye fell on a book I had never seen before sitting on our bookshelf/room divider. This happens quite a lot, as my Dad uses us as a secondary book storage facility :D and my babies lurve re-arranging the books (they have two Librarians for parents and both Nannas are Librarians - its in their blood :); so books I have never seen before do pop up - but this was a doozy - "The Secret Language of Waking Dreams" by Mike Avery.

Of course, I picked it up at once.

It is about interpreting symbolism in your waking life - both by interpreting the images and signs around you, and also by doing something called "setting bookmarks" where you purposefully set or call upon an image to be linked to a specific action or pathway. 

I have done this for many years, all unknowing, with parrot feathers - I had read somewhere that finding feathers is a sign that your angels are around you - my Angels have deeply lurid tastes as they send me the bright green and yellow and red feathers of the Rainbow Lorikeet.

Anyway, inspired by the book, and the Card above, I decided to set a bookmark for the move to Denmark - a turtle. I would look for turtle to know that I was on the right path. I sort of suspected that maybe I would meet someone during the week of the Eclipse wearing a Turtle amulet or something similar....

Now one of the problems in moving to a picturesque Country Town in WA is that there are limited opportunities for Information Management Specialists like my husband, but I scoured the job boards and local newspapers anyway, looking for anything that he could do that would enable us financially to move there. 

Quite a large part of the Reading I had done was concerned with the importance of making sure that we had all our financial ducks in a row. Of making sure that we had all our planning in place, so a wild leap into the dark wasn't really on the cards. *sigh* There's a Freudian slip....This was something that would have to be planned.

But there was nothing there. Not even an administrative position in Albany - the nearest big City. Nothing. Nada. Nil. In desperation I started using Google, rather than my collection of specialised Job Search links - I searched "Jobs - Albany" and I took the first hit I got - Jobseeker. On the second page, there was an ad for "Holistic Wellbeing - Business Opportunity". I usually skip these, but clicked on it anyway, in the thought that maybe here was something I could do down the track. It took me, completely randomly, to the Australian Government website and an advertisement for people to do a three month course in teaching meditation, Chair Yoga and also Holistic Life Coaching... Hmmm that sounds right up my alley BUT it is expensive. AND I would have to do the Small Business Thang ie: get out there and flog myself to the world. *sigh* decisions decisions. So I did another reading.

This time I did the 5 card Yes or No. You're *not really* supposed to ask Yes/No questions of the cards, mostly I suspect as its not mystical enough for the sort of people who write Tarot Interpretation books, but also because its a bad sign of Diceman-ism to ask the cards to make decisions for you that you really should be making for yourself. Far better to ask the Cards "Please comment on X"  or "What do I most need to know about X right now" - but these can lead to maddeningly ambiguous answers. For a straight-up answer, the 5 card Yes/No is a bloody useful spread so I pulled out the deck tonight and did the reading, 

"Should I do the Meditation/Yoga Course"

And got an unambiguous "Yes" with elements of  "Be bold ! Now is the time to take courageous action", and also " You are building a structure for security and safety" and "Time to strategize, plan and move in a new direction" and also "Move to a place of Healing" - Child of Water. I almost cried when I saw that last one come up...

But... and yet....its soo hard to pack up everyone and everything and start a new business... I'm just not sure..... Maybe I didn't shuffle the cards enough to reverse them... So I did another reading - something else you're *not supposed* to do. Its testing the Oracle, or not believing what you're told, and either way it is seen as disrespectful. But I did it anyway, 'cos using this deck is like having my hand held by my Nanna, and I kind of felt that the deck is generous, and kind, and wouldn't mind. So I did the 5 card yes/no again....

EEEEK ! and got EXACTLY THE SAME KEYCARD. Explorer of Fire - "Be bold ! Now is the time to take courageous action" and also the 7 Air AGAIN "Time to strategize, plan and move in a new direction". Hmmmm, do you think I am being told something ? The second reading also yielded"An opportunity for the inner spiritual life to harmonize with the external life of the workaday world" hmmmm... Ya reckon ?!

So clearly I was being given a boot up the bum to do this course. I sat here at the computer and looked for the bookmark. Aggh ! I hadn't bookmarked it - I was going to have to recreate my search - but I thought hard about the name of the Course and took a punt on Inner Voyage as that was what I thought it had been called. I got to the website (you've already worked this out haven't you ? :) and looked for the enrolment form. And then it hit me between the eyes (In my third eye, no less !)....

Yah.

Inner Voyage.

Mama Ocean.

Duh !!

Go on - ask me when the Course starts.... The week of the second Eclipse. The Eclipse at the full Moon in Saggitarius, my Sun sign. The sign of the Archer, Firing Arrows.....

Thanks To Mystic 

I do not believe in coincidence. 

Synchronicity - yes. 

Serendipity - absolutely. 

No such thing as coincidence :)

The more I trust in the Universe, the more I keep my eyes and ears open to the faint heartsong of the World, the more I feel guided, supported and loved.

I am signing up for that Course tomorrow, first thing !!!





xxx Molly