November 27, 2012
-
My personal oracle
My personal oracle
Self knowledge
An oracle deck is designed around a theme for the purpose of divination. Not really divination in the same sense as fortune telling but rather to get insight and input through a random selection. Basically an Oracle deck can provide inspiration of how to deal with a situation. A random process is used to provide a way forward and it is generally applicable to any situation since the Oracle cards represents certain archetypical behaviors. Most Oracle cards are more positive than negative which allows one to always have a positive approach rather than a futile approach. A good Oracle deck can be an enriching experience as it allows you to apply its chosen theme to a variety of circumstances. In the process you learn a lot about yourself as well as the themes use in the deck.
I personally prefer Tarot which has a structured system with a definite pattern as foundation. But recently I enjoyed playing with two different Oracle decks. The advantage of an Oracle deck is not in telling the future but in getting to know yourself better. I also recently bought a book called ‘Six eminent mystics’ which discusses six people who made an impact on the world. This triggered within me the desire to create my own personal Oracle deck with the people that has played an archetypical role within my personal growth and development. Looking at the people historical, mythical and in fantasy that has had an influence my life was very insightful.
As a child and young man I was not as much impressed by people. With age, as I review my own life, I am learning more and more from the lives of other people and their lives are more of an inspiration than before. I hope over time to write about my own Oracle deck …. the people that influenced me, the archetypical pattern they present to me, the meaning of that archetypical pattern for me in life, what we can learn from it and a bit of history on the specific person. This will be a new Xanga project and a process of self-discovery for me.
I am sure that in no time I will end up with 144 people that had influenced my thinking. Some of the people I would like to include are (in no particular order):
- Genl JC Smuts – Holism
- Sir Francis Bacon – Learning
- GI Gurdjieff – Self knowledge
- Mahatma Gandi – Peace
- JG Bennett – Structure
- Paracelsus – Healing
- Socrates – Questioning
- Alexander the great – Warrior
- Jesus the Christ – Love
- Nelson Mandela – Freedom
- Theuns Mare’s – Recapitulation
- Hermes trismegistus – Transformation
- Merlin – Mentorship
- King Salomon – Wisdom
- Pythagoras – Silence
- Gautama Buddha – Meditation
- Sun Tzu – Strategy
- Lao Tsu – Yielding
- Marcus Aurelius – Duty
Who are the people that influence you and in which way?
Comments (3)
My brother uses the I ching thing and it’s mostly inspirational and he finds comfort in wise guidance I guess…I haven’t tried any of the available oracles but it does makes me curious.
I’ve looked at oracle decks and have wondered about them. People in my everyday life have influenced me in greater ways than I would have imagined. Everyone has something to teach; I often find much to be learned right here.
While I am familiar with all those you mentioned (I had forgotten about Smuts and Holism), I don’t think I have been much influenced by most Ancient Philosophers/Thinkers, except Socrates, Marcus Aurelius, and his major influence:Epictitus. In more modern times, I have admired Sartre and Camus. Will Durant is a historian I seem to be more or less alone in admiring.