This is a time of great relief for some, and of deep disappointment for another, and of sharp anger, or low dread, for others. When all these swirling feelings are within the same family, it is good to ask “What can bring us together?”
These sentences describe my family during these days after the Presidential election in the United States, and so I thought I would do a Journey Oracle reading for myself, in the hope that some insight would emerge about how to better relate to each other in the aftermath.
A Journey Oracle reading creates an actual and symbolic journey into a difficult or confusing situation. Perfect. I am ready for some useful advice.
THE SITUATION
This first card represents my situation and translates its experience into a language of colour, image and symbol like that of dreams. This changes the way I experience the situation, connecting me with the inner forces that are shaping it. An Oracle dialogues with my imagination.
I am first struck by the confusion in this image. I can make no clear sense of this. I keep wanting to turn my head and look for something recognizable. A perfect representation of what I am feeling about the ‘sides’ my family has taken regarding the election in the US.
Here are the Oracle’s pronouncements about this situation:
suit: FULL MOON (Oct) card name: HUNTER’S MOON #35
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 WITH 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.
I certainly resonate with the sentence about the prevailing energy being a shifting fog. And also that the connection between the black core energy pattern and the situation is warm. Somehow this feels hopeful to me. Maybe the last sentence about the situation being fed by found treasure is referring to this card reading itself,
MY EXPERIENCE IN THE SITUATION
This second card is a picture of the experience I am having within the situation, like a dream develops a complex plot, making the outcome uncertain.
I certainly feel like I am swimming through murky water, holding my heart out of the turmoil. But who, or what, is that creature turning back toward me?
Here are the Oracle’s pronouncements about my experience.
THE EXPERIENCE NAMED
Beginning Vision
THE SITUATION EXPERIENCED
holding treasure, mischievousness
aren’t we special, dancing the fire
the witness is here
you in balance comfortably
the witness is here, dancing the fire
honoring ourselves
you have the help you need
EXTERIOR SUPPORT
An exterior or support system for the situation is beating heart.
I must say, I especially like the phrases, you in balance comfortably. and, you have the help you need. Perhaps that creature is the witness, and it is important to see both sides without judgement or condemnation.
CHANGE
The third card is a picture of change; that moment in my situation, as in a dream, when something decisive happens and the story is transformed.
Interestingly, what is most noticeable to me is the quiet gaze of the horned creature, even though it is upside down. And the vivid magenta red stripe through its eye. Red is the colour of the first chakra, which is associated with family, tribe, our deepest sense of belonging. Seeing with quiet contemplation, rather than with alarm.
Here are the Oracle’s pronouncements about change.
CHANGE
The power needed to shift this situation will be a sound of
clearing in the sky.
Change will come by not giving the answer.
Your relationship to the change in this situation is a flight of freedom.
The moment of letting go into the change will smell pungent.
The concern to be avoided within this change will taste acidic.
DIVINE WILL
The wisdom of triumph after long suffering will empower the transformation.
Completed transformation will be felt as a quality of brilliant white.
DREAM ON THIS QUESTION
Why didn’t you stop it?
HOW IS THIS AN ANSWER
Confirmation
So many of these statements are important instructions to bring change. A clearing in the sky is what we all need–for this discord to ease and lift. Change will come by not giving the answer is so powerful. There is no one answer about how to move forward, only a sense that moving toward unity, that becoming upright is possible.
THE RESOLUTION
The fourth card is a picture of the situation’s final resolution sought by the wisdom of my unconscious mind.
I quite love this picture of animals, dogs maybe, who are all together–some grumpy, some timid, some just watchful–but all together. And as is true with all four cards, the dominating colour is red; this is family all together.
The Journey Oracle concludes this reading with a fairy tale in which my unconscious wisdom knows who all the characters are, and what the action means, and why there is a happy ending.
A Journey Oracle fairy tale
TOUCHING TREES
A man lived near a beautiful forest with the elemental big forces of towering trees that sometimes were sparkled with dew or veiled in mist, and often were swaying to the symphonies of rain and wind. The man heard the forest was in danger of being cut down and so he sent out messages to find someone of like-mindedness to protect the trees. Although he called out to save this abundance, no one came but the loggers.
When the darkness, turmoil, and wreckage subsided, the man climbed over the torn and broken forest to a large cedar still standing by a small stream now gone almost underground from the silted-covered drifts of branches across its flow. “What do you need that I can do?” he asked as he leaned against the massive trunk. With his inner eye he saw the jumbled remains; he saw tree stumps stretching into the distance, and he saw a small jar of red paint. The stumps in his vision had dots of red paint on their jagged tops. “I will touch every tree” he thought, and gave himself a year to be in process with this task.
The man climbed over branches and fell through brambles in the destroyed forest, touching his finger first into a small jar of red ochre, and then onto each tree stump. The task seemed impossible, but as he crossed each acre, the man felt a coming into power. Each season the clear cut rewarded him with gifts of returning life: birds ate seeds from burst cones, deer nibbled tips from fallen cedars, and tiny green shoots pushed up to soften the haul roads.
After the man completed his agreement, one of the new owners of the clear cut came to his house. The man thought “you cannot trust a thing like this” and wondered if the owner would criticize his being on the land. “I heard you touch trees with a special healing paint,” the owner said. “I need to cut down a leaning tree and was wondering—can you show me what to do?”
What an amazing story for what might heal my family. One touch at a time–birthday wishes, Christmas letters, random phone calls–each touch returns life to what has been cut down.
May we ALL be well and happy.
