Category: Spirituality

Tarot & Co: Why I love oracle cards

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„Just pull a card“, like a more spiritual version of a fortune cookie? Yes, that’s just one option to work with oracle cards, and a very simple one at that.

Cards like this have been very popular at parties when I was a teenager, nice little gag to see if you’ll pass the next exam or if the cute guy in the other class will recognize you one day. Nowadays, these aren’t my reasons to love oracle cards anymore, obviously, because my interests have changed – and so have I.

Today, I don’t own cards anymore that I got from girl magazines. The decks that I have now are carefully chosen, because they spoke to me and because they can enable me to work on myself or even on my spiritual path. There are numerous reasons to love these versatile cards. Here are mine!

Versatile

Nowadays there is an incredible choice of oracle and inspiration cards: cards with animals, with fantasy creatures, with sayings and of course the classical tarot cards. All of them have one thing in common, and that’s that they want to give the person who’s asking a little more clarity about their questions. In doing so, they have different approaches. Some have a concrete saying which aims to inspire and give answers. Others use symbols and pictures. That way, everyone can find exactly the card deck that’s right for them or choose several options. I love the fact that I can just pull an inspirational quote when I don’t have a lot of time, and then do an elaborate spread when I do have the time and interpret the cards afterwards. Depending on personal preferences or your intention, you can get really creative here.

Pretty

Yes, of course the cards aren’t there just to look pretty, but the fact that they do, is a huge plus in my book! You’re just way more likely to pick up cards that you like looking at. I just love cards that are designed carefully and with a love for detail. If there is a card that I particularly like, I love to look at it a little longer. That way, I might find little details I haven’t seen before, but fit my interpretation very well or even bring a little more clarity concerning the question I asked.

Lots of options to use them

A good friend asks me to read her cards for a problem? I want to start the day with an inspiring quote? My yoga and meditation practice should be given a specific theme? Do I need some food for thought for my journaling? I can use my different decks of cards for all this and much more. I choose a deck depending on what I feel like at the time and either take the time to lay a pattern or simply draw a card. This sometimes accompanies me through the day.

Food for thought

Let’s be honest: sometimes we simply don’t see clearly. We are so caught up in a merry-go-round of thoughts because we are so preoccupied with a particular issue that we miss the bigger picture. This is where cards can help. You can either ask a specific question and interpret a laying pattern or ask a general question such as “What am I overlooking?” or “What should I know about topic XY?” and then draw a card. It doesn’t matter whether you choose tarot cards, inspiration cards or other oracle cards.

The only important thing is that the deck you choose matches your current mood so that the card you draw speaks to you. Of course, you can also draw a card from different decks – it’s entirely up to you, your question and your mood! Then take a close look at the picture and the name of the card, read the handbook and think about the extent to which the card fits your situation. This will often stimulate thoughts that you had completely overlooked previously. 

Psychology

Especially when you read cards for others and then ask them what they see in the card or how they interpret it, you often hear interesting answers. One and the same card can be interpreted so differently by different people that it is astonishing. This in turn reveals so much about the person in question and how they see the problem, which I find incredibly exciting. It’s also interesting to see how wide the scope for interpretation really is, especially if you’ve been working with the cards yourself for a long time and have perhaps always looked at some of them in the same way.

Have you worked with tarot or other cards yourself? If so, what do you like about it? Are you new to the subject and have questions? Then feel free to write them in the comments or send me an email.

Bye Bye 2022 – 5 mindful Rituals for the end of the year

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The phases when something ends and something else begins are always significant and hold new possibilities for us. On a small scale, there are days: If my day today was rather annoying, I have the opportunity to let go of it in the evening to finish and start anew the next day. It gets a bit bigger when preparing for a new week or even a new month. However, we do this rather rarely. Days, weeks and months usually just merge into one another. The turn of the year, on the other hand, is special – it’s like opening a whole new book, not just a new chapter or page. For many of us, the time “between the years,” from Christmas to New Year’s Eve, is a time of quiet and reflection. Maybe you’re in the mood to make this a mindful one? Here are my five tips for end-of-year rituals.

Reflect

Now is the time for retrospective. Take some time and do some soul-searching, reviewing the past year. There are several ways to do this:

  1. Journaling: use the “brain dump” technique, where you set an alarm clock for at least 15 minutes and just write away – resolving never to put down your pen during the set timeframe. If you can’t think of anything to write, just write “I don’t know what to write right now.” With this technique, you’ll tap into your subconscious and perhaps write about things you didn’t even know were on your mind anymore.
  2. Write a year in review: If you like things structured, you can write a year in review, gradually looking back at each month. Maybe you want to write about it prosaically, maybe just list the highlights of each month. It’s entirely up to you!
  3. Your year in pictures: If you’re more visual, scroll through your phone’s gallery and pick out your favorite photos for each month. Maybe you want to create a collage with them? Let your creativity run wild!

Let go

Surely not everything went well this year. Surely you have wishes for the new year (we will come to that in the next point). In order to fulfill these wishes, it is good to create space beforehand. Become aware of what you want to leave behind in the old year. Journaling is a great way to do this, but you can also meditate on it. Visualize how light and free you will feel without what you want to let go of. Maybe it’s just small things, or maybe you want to change a long-ingrained habit, change jobs, or even cut a toxic person out of your life. But let go in a loving way, without resentment. If you like, you can complement the meditation and visualization with affirmations such as “I allow myself to let go” or “I make room for something new”. A small ritual can also be very helpful, especially if you want to let go of something bigger. Write what you want to let go of on a piece of paper, hold it in a candle flame and let it burn in a fireproof bowl. Meanwhile, you can work with visualizations and affirmations. You can give the ashes to the wind afterwards.

Manifest

What do you wish for the new year? Visualize this as well! In meditation, imagine how you will feel and act when you have it. Are you creative and like to tinker? Then you’ll have a lot of fun creating a vision board. You can do it virtually or in the traditional way with scissors and glue. Either find a stack of old magazines from which you then cut out pictures that fit your vision and put them together to form a collage. Or work with a digital design tool that allows you to create a virtual collage. Even if you create a virtual collage, you should end up printing it out and hanging it in a place where you can easily see it often. This way you will always stay connected to your vision. If you enjoyed the letting go ritual with the note and the candle, you can also perform another small ritual for manifesting. Write your “order to the universe” on a piece of paper – formulate it as if your wish had already come true, for example “I live in my dream house”. Then bury the note in nature or in your garden. Think of it as a seed that will grow over time into what you wish for.

Incense

Whether you would like to use sticks or incense in a small bowl – especially in this phase of the year, the herbal aromas are a wonderful background for our meditation and yoga practice or simply provide a cozy mood in between. There are even specific incense rituals, for example to cleanse (sage) or to drive away negative energy (juniper). Feel free to experiment a little with the different scents and incense options – it’s fun!

Celebrate the “Rauhnaechte” (Twelfth Night)

The “Rauhnaechte” refer to the twelve nights between Christmas Eve and Epiphany. They are considered a particularly magical time and are ideal for rituals of all kinds. Each Rauhnacht has its own special features and meanings. Engaging with them can be a lot of fun and very inspiring.

How do YOU celebrate the end of the year? Do you have rituals that should not be missing in any year or does every year end look different for you?

I wish you a wonderful start into the new year!