A non-initiated friend caught me in the middle of a reading the other day. There I sat, on the floor, my celtic animal cards laid out in an Awen spread, frowning in concentration. With a nervous chuckle, I madw a move to gather up the cards, but to my surprise, she stopped me, and settling down comfortably on the rug, asked me to explain what I was doing, and how it worked.
At first I was at a loss for words. My readings are usually solitary, and the questions I sought answers to were almost always quite private..but a funny thing happened while I hemmed and hawed over the illustrations and meanings of the cards. In my efforts to explain how the cards helped me gain a better understanding of my problems, I gained a better understanding of the true purpose of the cards. I had never before questioned how they worked...I only knew that they did work. My acceptance had been whole-hearted, and totally unconcious.
Unconcious...that, I found, was the key word. You see, each animal represented a general aspect..sometimes of personality; sometimes of environment; sometimes of key drives or conflicts that we are all familiar with. These generalities allowed me to shift my point of view regarding the problem...to examine it in relation to new thoughts,and ideas. This in turn enabled me to break out of a negative, destructive cycle of thought.
You see, when a problem isn't easily solved, it tends to loom in the conciousness. It takes up a life of its own, and circles relentlessly in a stream of "I can't" and "I wish." Breaking out of that circle requires that you turn to a new concious direction...which in my case, is easier said than done.
By taking my problem to the cards and allowing my unconcious to find the connections between the animal traits and my problem, I am able to turn the problem in a new directions... to find insight in regard to the solution. The solution was always there, within my mind, but out of concious reach. I freed my mind to find it by using the cards.
"Sooo.." my friend remarked, "the cards aren't magic, after all."
"Nope," I replied, with a delighted grin, "They're not. We are! We just need a little help sometimes."
Denise Ruiz
Editor - Seeker Magazine