Ancestral Gifts

As we approach the season of Samhain here in the Northern Hemisphere, a time when we mark the final harvest and remember those who have gone before us, I asked the question, “What gifts of the ancestors can be helpful to us and our planet in these times?” and drew the 9 of Stones from the Greenwood Tarot.

This card suggests to me that ancestral gifts that can be helpful include:

• Reverence for past wisdom ways.
• Ancestral rituals.
• Deep, earth-connected memory.
• Choosing (and/or being chosen by) a piece of land, then really integrating our lives with it.
• Immersing ourselves in the song of stone, soil, and place.
• Harmonising ourselves with earth’s cycles and rhythms.
• Noticing and ceremonialising the similarities between our bodies and the land.
• Treating our bodies and the places where we live as sanctuaries.

What does this card say to YOU this Samhain?  Please tell us; we’re listening…

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Sharing: An Anthology of Men’s Empowerment Stories

I’m delighted and honoured to be one of 17 authors featured in this beautiful anthology of men’s stories.  It’s due to be released in November.  Please do read it.  There are some potent tales of struggle, humour, and triumph.

You can find out more by clicking on  http://www.sharinganthologies.com/#!men/c1971

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Your Creative Work MATTERS!

Bring your creative work into the light of D.A.Y.

Divinely Artistic YOU!

A Programme for ALL Kinds of Artists

with James Wells

jameswells.wordpress.com

I am thrilled to announce Divinely Artistic YOU, a four-week intuitive/oracular guidance programme that supports people in the creative arts – novelists, poets, playwrights, painters, collage artists, photographers, composers, instrumentalists, singers, dancers, choreographers, ceramicists, filmmakers, sculptors, fibre artists, jewellery makers, multimedia performers, ritualists, and more.  Using a set of evocative cards called the Oracle of Initiation, we will overcome “creator’s block”, identify your most lucrative project, and manifest your creation for your authentic audience to enjoy and celebrate.

Like the Oracle of Initiation itself, this four-week (plus follow-up!) process combines raw, honest spontaneity with grounded structure.  The insights called forth from randomly chosen symbols will delight and surprise you at times and confirm your own instincts at other times.  The maps to which we apply the cards guide the process so pros and cons become super clear, manageable timelines are established, and allies and resources are revealed. 

What happens in your four 50-minute Divinely Artistic YOU consultations (and beyond)?

       ~ Session One: A reading to discover the juicy creative project that wants to come forth through you and what your journey with it looks like.

       ~ Session Two: Using Oracle of Initiation images, we listen to four voices: the soul of your project, its naysayers, its supporters, and those whom it will inspire.

       ~ Session Three: A reading to identify what’s yours to do, what your allies can contribute to your process, compromises to make, boundaries to set, unconscious influences, your       project’s ideal venue, and more.

       ~ Session Four: Synthesis.  A reading or process to tie up loose ends and solidify concrete, doable actions.

       ~ Follow-up: I will give you a 66-day self-guidance template based on the 66 cards of the Oracle of Initiation.  After that, you’ll receive a simple outline to help you announce your exquisite creation to the world and bring ’em in!

 Something I want you to know is that this is NOT fortune-telling.  What is it then?  Divination, as I understand and practise it, is an ART FORM that allows you to approach, listen to, and manifest your divine Self, the part of you that is as potent and generative as the Infinite Power that made the Earth, the stars, the trees, and the human species.  Your mode of artistic expression is as much a part of the unfolding of the cosmos as anything else is.  Your work matters!

“OK, James, it’s YOUR fault that I’m awash in jaw-dropping creative flow right now.  This was the most insightful and productive catalyst I’ve ever experienced.  I loved how precise and practical it was, that I walked away knowing exactly what to do with the information and how to make it work for me.  Thank you!”                      ~ T.N., Southampton, PA, U.S.A. 

Why bring your creative process to me?  In addition to living with symbolic tools like the tarot since 1979 and using them professionally since 1995, I have a background in the arts:  I’ve played piano for dancers, conducted chamber choirs, composed and arranged music, played the organ, published two books (so far!), written and recited poetry, crafted rituals, delivered workshops and lectures, and contributed articles to various almanacs and magazines.  My training in Circle Way process ensures that I am an attentive listener, intentional speaker, and weaver of comfortable, diversity-honouring time and space where the Muse can come forth with clarity.

I’m offering Divinely Artistic YOU because many cherished friends and clients who work in the arts expressed a desire for an imaginative, enjoyable programme that is simultaneously intuitive and down-to-earth to help them stay on track and birth their visions in the real world.  I also wanted to integrate my friend Mellissae Lucia’s stunning Oracle of Initiation more deeply into my counselling work and share its wisdom with others.  My sincere wish for you is that this four-week programme will dissolve obstacles to your creativity, help you tap into your potential, set up a doable plan, and get your finished work to the people who will appreciate and want it most. 

 “For a craftsman/artist, the more you make beauty, the more your soul is beautiful!”

~ Jean-Claude Flornoy, artist and restorer of historical tarot decks.

 

To give you as much personal attention as possible, I commit to working with only 10 people per month, so pre-booking ASAP is highly recommended.  I’m now scheduling Divinely Artistic YOU appointments for the following days:

• Tuesdays, Wednesday, Thursdays, and Fridays in November, 2014 (beginning November 4).

• Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays in February, 2015 (beginning February 3).

• Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursday, and Fridays in March, 2015 (beginning March 3).

 

The investment for your four personal weekly consultations PLUS the 66-day Oracle of Initiation self-guidance template PLUS your Announce Your Creation to the World outline is $497, payable to James Wells.  You can send a PayPal payment to circleways.james@gmail.com or use your credit card through PayPal (add 4% for this option).  You can also pay with a money order, cheque, or cash.

Divinely Artistic YOU sessions are by Skype or by phone, so you can be anywhere in the world.  The Oracle of Initiation and I are ready to companion you and your creation(s) into the light of D.A.Y.  It will be a joy and an honour to work with you!

          With appreciation and respect,

          JAMES

P.S.  Please tell at least six of your creative artist/artisan friends about this programme.  Thank you!

 

*** All images from the Oracle of Initiation deck by Mellissae Lucia.

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Old and New Tarots Co-Exist

Here’s another Q & A about what I do and the things I use to do it.

“Hi James,

When you’re reading with a tarot deck with “reimagined” (for lack of a better word) cards, how do you bring the new images/ideas of the deck together with the “standard” (again, for lack of a better word) interpretations?

Best,

SB, Sylvania, OH, U.S.A.“

Dear SB,

I have a system I employ with every deck I use.  The suits have core meanings for me, I have standard core interpretations for the stages (numbers and courts), and certain key words and phrases for each trump.  Consistency and structure are helpful for me as springboards.  To these components, I add the client’s observations and experiences of a particular deck’s images and my own observations and experiences of a particular deck’s images in addition to the topic we’re exploring and the question or spread position within that topic.  My core meanings add something as we need them.  The whole mix creates a very personal and effective interpretation in the moment.  So, in my experience, a solid tried-and-true system and re-imagined tarot imagery don’t have to contradict one another, but they can enrich and deepen one another”

   

Images: Trump I from two decks: CBE Tarot de Marseille (by Yoav Ben-Dov) and Medicine Woman Tarot (by Carol Bridges).

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Oft-Used Decks

It’s time to continue our Q & A series about the tools and processes I use. 

“Hi James,

Which decks do you use most often in your work, and why?”

Thanks,

BF, Tampa, FL, U.S.A.“

 

Good question, BF.  At the time of writing this response, I’m aware that over the past few months, the packs of cards I’ve employed most often have been:

• Camoin-Jodorowsky version of the Tarot de Marseille
• Gaian Tarot
• Medicine Woman Tarot
• Morgan-Greer Tarot
• Motherpeace Tarot
• Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot
• Thoth Tarot
• Voyager Tarot
• Oracle of Initiation (a non-tarot deck)

Why?  Two possible reasons.  Either they’re tried-and-true, well-seasoned, and respected by many in the tarot community, especially with regard to RWS, Thoth, Morgan-Greer, and TdM, or they symbolise a way of being that’s a sustainable, life-affirming, creative alternative to the consensus reality our culture has built for itself up to this point in history, especially with regard to the Gaian, Medicine Woman, Motherpeace, Voyager, and Initiation cards.  In some cases, the choice of deck has been because a Skype or phone client has that deck on their end, so that’s what we use.  When using the cards for my personal insight, growth, and strategising, these decks have been conveniently to hand in the room.  There are, of course, exceptions to the above list, especially if I want to break out of my habitual thinking.  I hope this answer helps.

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Chatting with the Wind in the Trees

So many times, people think of using cards and other symbolic tools for readings of the “Will I get laid or will I get paid?” variety.  Our instruments of insight can be employed for so much more.  For instance, one can dialogue with Life’s wise whispers about what carries depth and meaning in one’s existence.

Recently, I sat in Exhibition Park here in Guelph, revelling in one of my favourite sounds, the breeze blowing in the trees, the song of the leaves in the early autumn wind.  In my bag was a copy of the Oracle of Initiation, a gorgeous photographic non-tarot deck.  I pulled it out and held a short, enchanting conversation.

Me: What in me is so appreciative of the wind/breeze in the trees?

Oracle: #2, PURITY.  The unspoiled, innocent, authentic child that is pure sensuality, that is an expression of the Formless Origin.

Me: How can I best honour the song of the wind/breeze in the trees?

Oracles: #24, LISTENING (!).  Be an attentive listener, an appreciative audience to that song.  Listen to it, be in council with it, hear its messages and heed them.  Dialogue with the Sacred in a non-verbal manner.

Me: What gift(s) can emerge from such a council of listening?

Oracle: #32, CLARITY.  Clarity, truth, and honesty.  The capacity to be cohesive vessels/containers of wisdom.

With whom or with what do YOU most long to hold such a dialogue?  Where will you do so?  With what tool(s) or process(es)?  Please tell us, we’re listening…

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