In 1990 I was introduced to a book and author that was to change my life. The book was (and is) called Full Catastrophe Living and Jon Kabat Zinn Ph.D. the founder of MBSR, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction probably was the single most powerful teacher I had that helped me cope with the back to back deaths of my parents.
I was four years sober and nutty as a fruitcake as I had no real understanding of my empathy overload, or what to do with my constant anxiety, especially because I had begun doing professional work as an intuitive and had no clue as to how I was receiving such intimate information. Looking back I see myself on electricity overload all lit up like a Christmas tree.
I had been introduced to various meditation practices but hadn’t settled on any particular one that spoke to my complex inner world and continuous replay of Me Me Me, I and Mine. Then I landed with Jon’s work and began to study and make the shifts I was so desperate for. The noise from the chatty committee in my head finally became quiet and for the first time, I actually felt like I could cope and slow down. Mindfulness became the centerpiece of my world and has been the core of my daily practice ever since. If you’ve read any of my books you will see how the principles of mindfulness and becoming the neutral observer have inspired all my processes.
So, what does mindfulness have to do with oracle cards?
I discovered early on that divination tools were always meant for self-inquiry as well as a way to connect to a Higher Intelligence and that I could use them to self-reflect as a way for me to:
- Understand the story I was telling (whether I was conscious of it or not)
- Let it be what it is without judgment.
- Let it go
I began by using the I-Ching for this purpose then Norse Runes, and classical tarot and then when I discovered I could develop and create my own version of a divination system I found this an amazing way to use oracle cards as a meditation tool especially when it feels daunting to begin the mindfulness process.
I was better able to focus on the story in motion then rise above it once I was able to name the energy presented in the card. It became a very effective way of self-reflection as the first step to a more detached mindfulness process. The story of Me Me I and Mine then became more manageable and filled with potential and possibility to shift to a more positive view that supported well being.
So this week I’d love it if you would try this. This is an exciting and distressing time of change and chaos and it’s hard to stay grounded and out of a victim story from all the dissention that seems to rise up from every corner (also a media diet will be way more effective this summer than cutting out carbs).
Here is what you do. Choose one card a day for the next 7 days from your favorite card deck (preferably mine!) and observe what it says, and give yourself 10 minutes to allow your mind to observe the story the card is presenting to you, allowing yourself be invited into an exploration of its possibilities.
Let it be what it is no matter what story the card reveals. Don’t try to change it, rather allow an image of a river to appear to you and imagine the card and its story floating down and away from you. Just observe the river now and allow all your subsequent thoughts and ideas to flow like leaves until they disappear. Pay attention to your breathing.
Going back to your day, how can the story revealed in the card support your highest good now? If you could retell it in a different way what would serve you better?
Love to hear your thoughts on how this practice impacts your day!
Also, I’m including a great video about mindfulness from this extraordinary teacher.
Here is a link to Jon Kabat Zinn’s video on Mindfulness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=122&v=ULJSacYFzzQ
Have a truly blessed, mindful and abundant week
P.S. I know quite a few of you have written to us to find out if I am going to be offering a business course for coaches or intuitives and since I am not (for sure not this year) I have found a powerful course to introduce you to. Crystal Andrus, the founder of the SWAT Institute (arguably the most successful empowerment coaching for women on the planet) is offering an extensive intensive for women entrepreneurs I think you will really like. Check it out: BEYOND THE EDGE a brand new, 7-Week, High-Level, Live & Interactive Business Training Course.
“ Anything is possible when you open your connection to the Universe”
WEEKLY ORACLE CARD GUIDANCE AND LESSON
Dear Colette.
This message so resonates with me today. I had just picked two wisdom of the Oracle cards.
We have a lively puppy who steals the cards if I put them down. So I sat down to read the message and read you’re email first. I had quite a stressful day yesterday. Need to ground myself this morning. So Milk and Honey is perfect!
I will visualise the story and the rest of the ‘stuff’ floating down the burn. Which actually runs at the back of where I live.
Thank you for the wise words
Have a joyful week
Xxx
you are so welcome
I registered for 2.0 this weekend and couldn’t get on. I haven’t received any info on watching a replay which I would very much like to do. Is there a way to access it please?
I spend a lot of my time both personally and professionally on mindfulness based practices. I’m excited to give this new one a try! Thank u for this inspiration!! 💕🙏🏻
A perfect reminder to stop the insane need to control everything in my environment and every aspect of my life. I am aware that in my case, the driver is a deeply engrained generational sense of lack. I work hard to reconfigure the fear-based thought patterns but slip up on occasion. It’s no easy task to re-wire old circuitry. “Letting go is the hardest part” (might be the beginning of a song here…). Thank you, Colette. xoxo
Hi Colette: I have always admired you since we met in person many years ago by the marina in Etobicoke. You and I are both cancers in zodiac and both parents in heaven. You inspired me then but wow, now your words are straight from heaven. You are an Angel sent from Heaven and you bring calm in a storm for many many people. Namaste.
Hi Colette,
I just ordered Wisdom of Avalon and it arrived yesterday – four days earlier than promised but right on time for your 7 day challenge! I am excited and looking forward to seeing where my story goes. Thank you and have an amazing day!
https://colettebaronreid.lpages.co/oracle-cards-2-0-the-1-secret-to-working-with-oracle-cards-to-create-your-destiny/
HUGS
YAY
Thank you Colette! This is such a perfect message for today. Things are certainly intensifying these days! (At least in my head they are, hence the need…)
This may be one of my cledons/Message in a Bottle, yay!
Hi Colette,
Further to your card picks today for us, I picked 3 very amazing cards from the Enchanted Map deck (which I also really enjoy) that I think are totally in line with your weekly choice – Listening, Strength, and Moonlight. They were very supportive of my writing project. I especially loved the line from ‘Strength’: “Have courage and dive in, for magic is in the process of finding a form to take.” Exciting! I can see Magic, sparkly and swirling, already forming! Love nothing better than Magic! They told me that Spirit is here to help and to look for the signs, as you were talking about. Funnily, I never thought of Spirit being with me during my writing process, and yet many a time in re-reading a draft, I come across a funny, bright line that I don’t remember writing. (Twilight Zone music here). Source was there all along. Thanks, Colette!
Colette thank you very much for the Mindfulness link (Jon Kabat-Zinn) in your blog. Filled with gems of understanding. Xx
You mentioned to look up what signs mean…is there a good resource you would recommend? Thank you
my book Messages from Spirit .. has 460 note symbol guide
love it
This meets me on a soul level with the idea of this practice. Thank you so much!
Hi Colette,
So lately I’ve been undecided on what to do about my career. I’ve taken the state LMT exam twice now and failed. I do have my Reiki certification and was thinking of starting my own Reiki practice and incorporating readings, side note, I was barely do readings for myself. So with that being said. I gave it to God and waited for the signs to show me what to so next.
I have found myself doing readings for myself every day and the same school I received my Reiki certification also has a class for starting your own Reiki business. I haven’t signed up yet because I’m still on the fence about retaking the state exam to have my LMT license. Through it all, I’ve learned that letting go and finding peace within usually brings the answers that you seek. The universe truly does have your back.
P.S. Bought and Love the Mystical Shaman Oracle Deck
P.S.S. Going to sign up for the course
love it !! see you in the fall!
my cards were Unfinished symphony, chaos and conflict, here and now, a perfect blend with the theme of mindfulness. thank you for the link to Jon, xoxoxo
So grateful for you Colette. You light shines on me during a dark and difficult time! Keep sparkling!
Thank you so much for all you do. I just read today that you are a Cancer. I am too!! On the cusp of Leo. So the fire/water combination in my chart drives me crazy. I am in recovery as well and so many of your decks and books resonate with me. Just 2 days ago, a book fell out of a stack and landed on my foot. I put it back and it fell on me again. It was Messages from Spirit by you. I didn’t even know I had it. I purchased it from Goodwill and just recently added it to my Wish List. Guess what I have started reading?? LOL. Will be doing this exercise and looking forward to it!!! Thank you for the link as well. I have been listening to a lot of your readings and was fortunate to be part of the Workshop(webinar)yesterday. This is already a very long comment so just thank you. I am 60 almost 61 and have been involved in various divination practices since I was 17. I have learned more from you in 1 month than I have in all the years I have been studying. I also have signed up on the waiting list for your Oracle School. Very excited to be part of this tribe. 🙏🏻🤗💖
Thank you for this, I do pick one card a day but tomorrow I will sit with it and let it tell the story, being mindful is my Second name atm I live by it. 💓
I didn’t watch the webinar as it was 3 am here in Austalia but I will watch the replay.
Look forward to my card in the morning and watch the magic unfold xx
that makes me so happy!!!
Collette:
I was recently introduced to the wisdom of the oracle cards by a friend and have found them to be very useful and enlightening. I started the 7 day challenge and have drawn the same card 3 days in a row, now that is a powerful message. Thanks for the inspiration, challenges and cards!
you are so welcome !
Happy Happy Birthday Colette– I hope you have a fantastic day .I enjoy reading your blogs, always so insightful and full of knowledge. thank you for sharing your gifts with us all.
Hello Collette, I have owned and used my deck of ‘The Wisdom of Avalon ‘ for a few years now. Reasently I had been a little sad about events in my life. I picked up my box of oracle cards and there on the back of the book was your website. I have not noticed this before.
What a treat to find you, I love your app with the meditations, the cards I have picked have been so insightful as too has the weekly video prediction.Serendipity working full out !
Today I have started the 7 day one card a day challenge, I would like to share my card if this is okay?
‘Letting Go’ card 44
My river revealed to me burning emorphos lumps of smoking/red hot grey lava, the cool water of the river solidifying the lava to form a bridge from one bank to another. Making new ground and a new way across instead of around a problem .?