Order a Reading

Sunday, 31 July 2016

The Great Story Beads and the Devas of Creation

A year or so ago, I ran across a wonderful project, bookmarked it, then forgot about it. I remembered it this weekend and want to do something with it. It's a project known as Great Story Beads, also called Earth Beads, Universe Story Beads, Cosmic Rosary, Cosmala, Big History Beads, and probably other names. These beads commemorate the 'epic of evolution'. They highlight the actual story of the Universe to help participants experience wonder and a sense of real belonging in the vast cosmos and the adventure of life, including the events of our own life, thus ensuring we see our personal story as an integral part of a larger story -- and that we ourselves are an expression of the Universe.

The project involves identifying key events on the timeline of creation, and finding beads to represent each, then creating a necklace or mala.

Watch this video featuring one of the pioneers of the Great Story Beads:




And here are some websites for further reading:

Ritualising Big History

Evolution Beads 

Great Story Beads








I really love this idea and want to make such a mala. It got me thinking about another resource that attempts to tell a version of the Great Story, and that's Cilla Conway's Devas of Creation. This deck is not as literal in its portrayal of the Epic of Evolution, focusing instead on 'devas'. Conway describes them as 'primordial energies, invisible energy patterns in the universe, which contain the blueprints for every aspect of existence, from the smallest sub-atomic particle to the universe itself. The are multi-dimensional beings, each one part of the Implicate Order that physicist David Bohm talks about, where the Universe is simultaneously whole, and all its enfolded layers. Thus every deva contains within itself the whole Cosmos, the holographic image of Divinity. We ourselves are an integral part of that underlying order: a unique particle of the Divine Mind.'

Devas of Creation

The Devas of Creation contain the following cards:

The Unmanifest--
The Source
The Shining Ones
The Fundamental Laws
The Elements
Numinous and Ambivalent Qualities
Shadow Energies

The Physical Universe--
The Heavenly Bodies
Devas of the Seasons
Devas of Life
Devas of Earth
Devas of the Threshold
Into the Next Dimension

There are so many ways to organise your Great Story Beads. There are lots of timelines available online to help you plan what to put on your mala. And then you add beads to represents events in your own life.

It's just a fantastic project!

So now I need to find out where to source BEADS. Any ideas?



Thursday, 28 July 2016

The Pope of Nope says Nope

Camoin TdM 
Oh boy, 'troubled plans'. That's not what I need today, in any aspect of my life. So I refuse to accept it. My plans won't be troubled! I defy you, stars!

There may be complications today, but I'm going to do everything I can do to prevent it.

ETA: So this is what happened...

I had a children's event planned and went fairly well but I ran out of time and left out the plenary -- forgot about it!

I misread the timetable and was 20 minutes late to my next work shift.

Found out the hold-up on our mortgage offer was because the surveyor hadn't collected an amount owed by us for an upgrade from mortgage valuation to Home Buyers Report -- although there is no way for us to pay that, we have to be contacted by them to collect the money. Yet they were sitting there waiting to be paid by us. Idiots.

Hubby had planned something for Friday but hadn't made all the necessary arrangements and so that nearly fell through but it got worked out in the end.

Cards right again!

Tuesday, 26 July 2016

Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel

CBD Tarot, Ben-Dov 2011
Hm, lots of wheels this week, CBD Tarot turns up the 2 of Coins, following on from yesterday's Wheel of Fortune.

Ben-Dov says:

Duality. Two options or two elements. Collaborating while keeping distance. A winding road, advancing in complex ways. Recognition and acknowledgement.

Yesterday I was miffed at my mortgage adviser for sending me a condescending email reply to my asking him to explain why he'd selected a particular insurance provider instead of some of the ones with better reviews on Which? It was uncalled for, to say the least, but I have merely asked again for more information about the product he's chosen. If he remains unwilling to explain himself, I will have to assume his main motivation is lining his pockets with my commission and not helping me understand why I should buy his product,  and I'll just have to select my own cover as most people do -- on the internet. But the Wheel will come back up in my favour again, and it might be that doing my own insurance actually is in my favour.

Some 2 of Coins affirmations:

"I celebrate my growth and power." Angel Paths

"Every problem is just an opportunity waiting for someone." Key-Hypnosis

"I flourish in the tide of change." Machelle Earley

"Act happy." James Ricklef

Those are all very interesting takes on a card that shows balance, movement and exchange in the realm of money, security and the material world.

(Title reference: Windmills of Your Mind song lyric)

Monday, 25 July 2016

One thing you can count on

Jean Dodal Tarot, Flornoy 2009
Everything goes in cycles. 

I know I've mentioned this several times, but there is one particular song that I feel really captures Wheel of Fortune: 'The World Goes Round,' from the movie 'New York, New York'.

Sometimes you're happy
And sometimes you're sad
But the world goes round
And sometimes you lose
Every nickel you had
But the world goes round

Sometimes your dreams 

get broken in pieces
But that doesn't matter at all
Take it from me, 

there's still going to be
A summer, a winter, a spring and a fall

And sometimes a friend starts treating you bad
But the world goes round
And sometimes your heart breaks
With a deafening sound



Somebody loses, and somebody wins
And one day it's kicks
Then it's kicks in the shins
But the planet spins
And world goes round and round

Sometimes you're happy 
And sometimes you're sad
But the world goes round
And sometimes you lose
Every nickel you had
But the world goes round

Sometimes your dreams 
get broken in pieces
But that shouldn't alter a thing
Take it from me, 

there's still going to be
A summer, a winter, a fall and a spring

And sometimes a friend starts treating you bad
But the world goes round
And sometimes your heart breaks
With a deafening sound


Somebody loses, and somebody wins
And one day it's kicks 

then it's kicks in the shins
But the planet spins
And the world goes round
And round and round and round and round

The world goes round
And round
And round
And round

You don't fall off the planet. You don't fall off the wheel. Bad times come, then they go. Good times come, then they go. As long as you keep hanging on, you can count on that. 

Saturday, 23 July 2016

Cups and more cups

Looks like our house purchase is proceeding, now the question has turned to insurance. Home owners, life, critical illness, income protection, and all that jazz. How much insurance cover do I need? What action should I take with regard to insurance?

Jean Dodal Tarot, Flornoy 2009 
I was really surprised by this draw, as I was expecting a lot of swords, to indicate both trouble and decision making. Three cups in a row! Really?

So yeah, three cups in a row, and on either side, the World and the Empress both look away from the cups. I also can't help but notice that 21 and 3 are both 3, and two of the three cups is a multiple of three. What you make of that is up to the reader, but there it is.

The first message: There's all the insurance in the world out there, and it's an extremely emotive subject that plays upon our instinct to protect the nest.

The second message: This emotion doesn't have a great connection to the actual world or actual nurture. Ie, fears and reality are not necessarily directly linked.

The third message: The best action I can take at this point with regard to insurance is to look away from the multitude of emotions -- most to do with fear -- and look to more pertinent issues.

That's funny, because I didn't think I was being emotional, I thought I was being quite rational and gathering information at this point.  The cups represent being fed, basic needs, and by association, fear of not being fed or having basic needs met. And that of course is the very driver of insurance.

If the two figures are looking away from all this emotion, what are the they looking at instead?

What is the World looking at? 4 of Swords -- I figured a sword would turn up.  There may be a World of insurance out there, but I am constrained by certain limitations. I must avoid being led by emotion and turn my attention toward what is actually a logical best choice. 'Four does not change.' The only unchanging aspect in this equation is the finite amount of money I have to work with. That should be a prime consideration, obviously.

What is the Empress looking at? 7 of Wands -- 'Seven brings troubles that fate has assigned.' The Empress looks toward the likelihood of trouble. Trouble is pretty certain to come, but we don't have much chance of knowing exactly what it might be or when it might occur. There are lots of troubles that never happen at all. But she's looking toward the card that represents problems, so it's important to identify those things that are most likely to be an issue for us, and not get carried away by lots of fears and wild what-ifs.

My two real advice cards, then, seem to be 4 of Swords and 7 of Wands, as they are the ones that pull away from the quagmire of emotion in the middle. Both cards suggest protection. 4 of Swords shows a central flower encased in 4 curved scimitars. It is protected by the four interlocked blades. Similarly, 7 of Wands shows an upright wand shielded behind 6 interlocked wands. One is surrounded, the other is shielded. There may be a story in that, but either way, a lone figure is protected, which would have been quite vulnerable on its own. Both are defended.

It seems to me I should examine my current protections and look for gaps that would need to be filled by insurance coverage, rather than being led entirely by the hungry mouths of emotion.

It's interesting that no Coin cards have turned up. I suppose once you identify the type of cover you need, the money side of it is ruled entirely by ability to pay. Not much use looking at prices. Just identify cover and then buy what you can afford.

Analyse it all you want, it comes back to the first impression. All those cups cards shouted to me at once: 'Too much emotion, whether you realise it or not. Dial that back and then proceed.'