Today was a really weird day.  And trust me, this isn’t the only day that will be weird this week, I’m sure.  Most of my day was spent dealing with stuff for Sacred Mists, but NOT the one project that I was especially planning to work on and looking forward to doing.  But, it all has to get done.  That along with an assignment for my class with Christopher had me wrapped up in some other things that kept me away from the work in the temple that I wanted to get done today.  Before I knew it, I was sitting here trying to recode one of the websites with the plan of moving which just had me in completely frustration with now not one but TWO site development companies and soon I found myself in a mood I don’t normally like to be in.  But, I just keep telling myself, “tomorrow is another day”, or as my music guru Bob Marley is telling me as I write this “don’t worry, about a thing, ‘cause every little thing’s gonna be alright.”  Thanks Bob. 

So one of the things from the last few days that I’ve been meaning to bring up for discussion was a recent purchase that I made at Borders.  I bought the “My Spiritual Reading Cards” by Sylvia Browne.  When I picked them up and looked at them and then didn’t put them down my husband’s reaction was “You’re going to give that wack job money?”  Ok, I’ll be real clear about this; I’m not a fan of Sylvia Browne.  I have three books of hers that were given to me as gifts and I have read them and they made me a little twitchy.  When I see her on TV it makes me even a bit more twitchy.  Do I think she’s really got a gift?  I don’t know.  She could be a great example of why I’m careful of what I do.  I think it’s possible she DID at one point, but it’s also possible that her own hard work to exploit herself may have caused her gifts to leave her.  I honestly believe that when a psychic or intuitive exploits their gifts  “the powers that be who giveth can taketh away” just as easily.  That could be the case here.  When a you’re charging $700–1000 (and up!) for a hour of “reading time” then I think you run to risk of treading some shady territory.  And if you do enough looking at videos of her on YouTube and you visit sites like Stop Sylvia Browne (who have the best logo ever) you’ll find plenty of info that suggest that if she had it’s been long lost. 

Regardless, I found myself drawn to these cards.  My first thought wasn’t about myself but about being able to use these cards to help clients.  I have started using them this week since getting them and they have been somewhat helpful.  It is a 74 card deck of spiritually guided messages, meditative thoughts and guidance.  Why 74?  In the card that explains the deck it states that 74 was chosen because 7 and 4 equal 11 “which is the highest spiritual number”.  If you’re not up on your numerology, 11 is a Master Number and is considered a number that carries energies of deep insight, intuitive ability and illumination.  It’s sometimes called “the psychics number”. 

The deck doesn’t come with a LWB (little white book) but just as a folded card that gives a brief explanation of the cards, their use and a suggested layout.  The cards don’t really need the LWB since there really isn’t much to them.  The cards each have a single image on them and then a statement of some kind.  I tried to find images of the cards online and wasn’t able to find anything.  This is the cover of the box:

 

 

 

I shuffled the deck and at complete random pulled the following three cards:

“Be careful that negativity doesn’t lodge in your body.  Visualize a green light around for protection.”
“Being alone can help you know yourself – and even more important, love yourself.”
“You can only honor your mother and father – or anyone else – if these are honorable.”

So this was interesting.  When I do three cards at random like this I tend to look at the first as being the root of things and the two build off them, deepening the message.  I can certainly say that, as far as how today went, these card gave me some useful messages.  Yes, I think quite strongly that negativity probably did “lodge” itself in me today after one thing had gone a little wrong and then it just sort of festered and grew as the day went on.  Spending time alone?  Well that’s a whole other story.  I’m “alone” most of the day, however I’m constantly answering the phone, replying to emails, talking to clients, dealing with IMs…I’m working most hours of the day and I have begun to sense that I GREATLY need to start spending more time away from my desk, away from the computer and away from my phone.  I need to spend time on a daily basis doing things for myself by myself, doing things like meditation, my art that has suffered lately, and reading a book that I don’t HAVE to read for one reason or another.  And by GODS I need to spend more time at the beach!  But yes, I don’t do these things and this is a good sign that it’s time to make them a priority.  When it comes to people being honorable and them earning their honor, let’s just say there are a lot of people around me that I know I probably SHOULD “honor” and hold at a certain level of esteem but I don’t feel they have earned that from me so I don’t.  This actually did factor into my day a little bit today, not greatly, but this is still a message that, for me, confirms some things I’ve been thinking lately. 

Do these cards measure up to being a good and helpful deck?  For some things, I think they could be.  I would say these are a lot like using the “Ask Your Guides” oracle cards by Sonia Choquette or the “Healing Cards” by Caroline Myss.  They are much more geared toward something specific, in this case dealing with questions related to emotions and spiritual needs, so that doesn’t make them a good deck for doing a relationship reading for some for example.  But for pulling a card a day for meditation or something like that, I could see these being useful.  I haven’t played with the spread that is recommended with the deck, which is a 7 card spread that is a little Celtic Cross-like, but I will have to do a reading with it to see how these cards play out in a larger reading. 

There is no note as to who the artist is that did the cards but they are pretty and I’m going to assume that the passages on the cards are by Sylvia Browne since the use “God” as the Divine signifier.  In the end I’d recommend them as a meditation and reflection tool and probably not much else.  They’re usefulness is somewhat limited just by design. So if you have $15.95 to spare and pick up a new meditation tool, check them out.