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inspiration & influence planning & productivity transition

CONSOLIDATE: My word for 2020 + tips for consolidating in your life

January 7, 2020
consolidate

It’s 2020 and as always I choose a word to capture my intentions for the year. This year my word is CONSOLIDATE.

This word has been arriving for some time in 2019 through my monthly intention setting, morning pages and tarot practices. It came through a sense of appreciating what I already have and also through feeling overwhelm at having many things on the go. Books I’m not getting to, clothes I’m not wearing, courses I’ve invested in that I haven’t fully honoured.

Part of this overwhelm is a symptom of starting afresh and trying ALL THE THINGS to make it work. At a time like this, we can grab on to so much to help us but over time, we realise selectivity and focused effort is going to be far more effective in the long run.

My partner Keith and I also have a rental property business. We have worked on this together for nearly 20 years now and both have 25+ years of experience in this area. It is a key part of our income stream. I need to skill up and be more active in our partnership. With opportunities to combine my property and coaching skills, I want to promote a positive mindset and practical skills for property as part of a ‘multiple streams of income’ strategy.

The personal and beyond

Personally, it has been a huge transition time over the past three years, a big learning curve and time when my whole life pretty well changed in some way. Having set up two new businesses – Quiet Writing and our property solutions business – it is time to review where I am and look at how I can most productively and sustainably build on what I have created.

Currently, too we have terrible bushfires raging in Australia that have burnt out more than 5.9 million hectares (14.7 million acres) and resulted in immense loss of all kinds – lives, wildlife and homes. A national disaster that defies description and breaks my heart, it was sadly predictable. It has sharpened reflection for many on living more sustainably and appreciating what we have. With so many losing so much, it brings home what is of value and what matters. How we act, protect and look after what we have as a nation and as an individual. Head over to this page for more on what’s happening, responding and taking action including in creative ways.

The intention to consolidate

My intentions from around November 2019 on have been around the urge and desire to consolidate:

I consolidate my learning and effort, making connections in support of others and to grow.

This intention will stay with me as my mantra for the year. As always when we choose a word of the year, we never know how it will unfold. I look forward to learning from a spirit of consolidating this year.

What CONSOLIDATE looks like for me

My Morning Pages notebook is an integral planning tool in my life. On 3 December 2019, I did a page list of what CONSOLIDATE looks like in my life. Here is that list updated to now, noting those completed and in-process as I write:

  • Working on finishing the first round of the Sacred Creative Collective strongly with clients ✅
  • Sharing experiences from the SCC first round, gathering testimonials, sharing them (in process)
  • Crafting experiences from the first round of SCC and building on them for the next round. (in process)
  • Building client connections further, including connecting with SCC clients for mid-February 2020 start. (in process)
  • Working further on my website and funnels, applying learning from Soulful Sequences with Ellie Swift (in process)
  • Providing feedback to my editor on my Wholehearted book draft and thoughts as we progress the editing process.
  • Independently publishing my Wholehearted: Self-leadership for Women in Transition book
  • Working on property skills and upskilling on renovation, interior design and managing AirBnBs. (in process)
  • Upskilling in coaching mastery and mindset through working with a master coach. (in process)
  • Consolidating my work as a property business owner and coach.
  • Following up from the Australian Association of Psychological Type (AusAPT) Conference in November, sharing reflections, resources and learning.
  • Organising my AusAPT volunteer social media, website and state lead roles in a more sustainable and structured way.
  • Reflecting on 2019 via December Reflections on Instagram ✅
  • Reading, finishing books, getting to books I have been meaning to read that I already own.
  • Working on resources and courses purchased to maximise the investment and outcome.
  • Creating an inventory list of these resources and scheduling time to work on them and implement the learning.
  • Learning about Trello and using it for 2020 planning and action tracking. Thanks to Nicola Newman for sharing her experiences to inspire me including recommending Mastering for Trello for Business which is fantastic! (in process)
  • Organising and decluttering inboxes.
  • Organising and decluttering photos.
  • Tidying up electronic files/desktop so I can find things.
  • Organising and decluttering office and workspace.
  • Organising and decluttering my wardrobe.
  • Getting back to self-leadership via Morning Pages and Tarot Narrative as anchors. ✅
  • Writing a piece for Julia Barnickle’s What if life were meant to be easy? project. Join in for this community project in January! ✅
  • Sharing pieces already written in new ways.
  • Finding new markets for my writing.
  • Consistently writing inspiring content on the Quiet Writing blog and social media, streamlining ways of working.
  • Reviewing blog post categories; refreshing, reviewing all blog posts.
  • Finishing my Body of Work page. ✅
  • Working out how best to share Wholehearted Stories in ebook and other formats to inspire others. (in process).
  • Making Quiet Writing a more inclusive, representative space and community including looking at my own biases and privilege.
  • Becoming more informed about climate change and being more vocal about its impacts and the impact of non-action.
  • Look at where I can recycle, reduce, reuse.
  • Starting a podcast on personality and personal stories.
  • Getting back to playing the guitar.
  • Getting back to writing poetry.

“Phew!” I have written in my Morning Pages notebook next to that list. A big list, but it is great to get it down and share it with you as a form of accountability. It can feel overwhelming but getting ideas out is a great first step to organising them and being in action. Trello is going to be super useful in organising my projects and time this year to action these steps to consolidate. And I keep reminding myself I have ALL YEAR to work on these consolidating actions.

Tips to consolidate your life

So from the above, here are a few tips to consolidate your life:

  • Make your own list like mine of what a consolidate strategy might look like for you.
  • Embrace lists generally as your friend to keep track and also celebrate the wins and progress.
  • Learn about Trello or other tools to structure your desires, be in action and keep track.
  • Group your ideas into projects that can help connect and align them.
  • Work with a coach to help you be accountable and in action in consolidating your energies and shaping sustainable ways of living with deeper purpose.
  • Tune into what is worrying you or feeling incomplete in your life as a way to let go, move on and tie up the loose ends.
  • Honour your body of work over time and seek to build on it.
  • Look at what you have already done and see where you can reshape, reorder, repurpose existing material eg blog posts, guest posts, ecourse material.
  • Make an inventory of what you already have and make it able to be easily found.
  • Ask yourself, “What have I already got?” before you purchase or do something new.
  • Look at where you can recycle, reuse, reduce.
  • Explore links between existing skills and areas of your life to make new connections.

So how will you consolidate in 2020?

I hope my ideas have inspired you to look at where you can consolidate in 2020. Love to hear how you plan to make the most of what you already have and upskill, repurpose and make connections in your life. Share in the comments or on social media.

And if you would like to consolidate your life in more meaningful ways in 2020, the Sacred Creative Collective Group Coaching program kicks off mid-February. Join with me and a community of women as we explore sacred creative life skills for deeper purpose and intention. Especially if you are going through a time of transition or feeling isolated in your creativity, this is for you. Limited to 10 participants and value-packed, we work globally across group and individual dimensions to ensure your needs are met in an enriching online environment. Bookings for Discovery Call to learn more HERE.

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personality and story planning & productivity

Bring it all together via a strategy or system

July 2, 2018

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.

Peter Drucker

bring it together

A Quiet Writing deep-dive Tarot Narrative each Monday to share intuitive guidance, wisdom and insights from aligned books – for the week and anytime…

This week: bring it all together via a strategy or system

Theme for the week beginning 2 July

The underlying theme for this week to guide our overall focus is from Lisa McLoughlin’s Life Design Cards deck – #7 Bring it all together.

After last week’s message of clearing the way by finding your practical truth, we move into a time to look at the whole of what we are doing. We are encouraged to bring it all together in some way. How can we see things from a higher perspective? What’s the order, strategy or integrating principle of our work? And what systems are we using to keep track or plan our business, creativity or content?

These are all questions to ponder in this week as we look at how to bring it all together. I love in this image that there is bountiful harvest there to coalesce and nourish us. But it seems we need to stop and gather ourselves to work out how to bring it all together in the best way. What is in and what is out? Which way is best?

bring it all together

Advice from the Life Design Cards Guidebook for #7 is:

Gather all the information you have right now. Look at systems that could be put in place to meet your needs.

Tarot Narrative for the week beginning 2 July

bring it all together

Tarot Narrative: 

Bring it all together and in order via a strategy or system. Some kind of organisation or boundary setting will help provide inner strength and calm to manage fear and risk. That way you can plan to move ahead with integrity and emotional courage now.

Cards: The Emperor and Strength from The Textured Tarot and #36 Come to the Edge from Wisdom of the Oracle.

Bring it all together via a strategy or system

Last week we had the King and Queen of Coins emphasising practicality and resources and how we use them. This week continues this theme but lifts it to encourage us to have a look at our whole overall strategy.  How are we working to bring it all together, whatever we are doing?

As an INTJ personality type, I am a big fan of structure, logic, order, plans and knowing where I am going. These areas are highlighted this week. It’s also looking at the ecosystem of what we are doing, how things connect, the touchpoints. How does one part of our work or life related to another?

It was very exciting to see The Emperor arrive for my first engagement with Lisa McLoughlin’s beautiful deck, The Textured Tarot. This card embodies getting in order in some way. Having a vision, a strategy, working with integrity at a high level. It’s also about boundaries and scope – knowing what is in and what is out.

As Peter Drucker’s fabulous quote reminds us, we can waste a lot of time being efficient if what we are doing doesn’t even need to be done. This is the power of stepping back to look at the connecting principles and the overarching plan and strategy. We can beaver away with so much, but is it important or essential? How can we bring a little rational spirit and coherency to our work? What we choose to do is important here but how do we know which is the right thing? How do we know which colours to focus on? A strategy or system can help this choice and direction.

bring it all together

Bring it all together with quiet strength

The Strength card also backs in The Emperor. What a mighty pairing this is! It suggests that working with structure and order will bring a quiet strength and calm to our work. If we look at where the sources of our confusion and uncertainty come from, it’s often from having too much choice. We don’t know what to do first or which is the important thing.

If we have an overall plan, this can help us to be organised but also self-compassionate and gentle. Within these boundaries we can explore and develop inner strength. We are not so filled with self-doubt as we know our overall path.

The Come to the Edge card from Wisdom of the Oracle encourages us to take some risks and all our courage to lead us. But if we make a clear container to take risks and experiment, we are more likely to feel less fear as we step forward. This card featured two weeks ago also around time to check in to the calling of you heart. So in your plan, make space for leaps of faith and listening to your heart.

Strategy, order and planning does not have to be dry and lacking in colour or life. It can be a collage, a vision board, a journey about colour itself. There are many ways to being it all together and find the connecting principles.

bring it all together

How can you bring it all together?

So how can you bring it all together via a strategy of system?

We are half way through the year now so it’s a great time to take a step back and look at your overall strategy for your work, creativity or business.

I enjoyed this podcast earlier this week on The Creative Penn which focuses on exactly these aspects of creativity. It’s about ‘Strategy and Business Plans for Authors’ but the suggestions are applicable to any kind of creative endeavour. I found it very thought-provoking and inspiring.

Strategy And Business Plans For Authors With Johanna Rothman

I’ve also started working on the consistency of my Instagram and social media work via Sara Tasker’s The Instaretreat. This is all about integrating voice and style in our Instagram and social media work and I look forward to learning more about the threads that tie my work together.

Tips for bringing it all together

Here are some tips for bringing it all together this week. Take time to reflect and journal on any that catch your attention:

  • look at your colour palette: What’s the overall colour in your social media or website? What’s the colour palette and is it what you want? What’s the organising principle?
  • get some advice from experts:  It might help to seek advice on your brand essence, your integrating principles. Sometimes we are so close we can’t see it or articulate it and help can make all the difference.
  • look at your mission: As Johanna Rothman talks about in the podcast chat, knowing you mission and overall aim helps to know what to do and what not to do.
  • choose integrity:  A key connecting theme in these cards is also integrity. How does integrity connect your work?
  • look at what’s out of control: Where are you a little out of control, Seven of Cups? Where are you doing too much that is not connecting? How can you cut back? What can help you choose what to do wisely?
  • strategise for the next 6 months: It’s a good time to go back to your plan for the year and readjust it. What were you hoping to achieve? What’s the strategy for the next six months?
  • quiet strength: Where can you put your energies for quiet strength? What will make the difference to your progress in an underpinning way?

bringing it all together

Thoughts for this week

Bring it all together with structure, order, strategy and overall plans this week. Take some time to breathe, check in on what you’ve harvested so far and where to go next. Invest your energy in this for traction in moving ahead for the next six months.

Here’s to a week of reviewing and getting our organising principles sorted.

Love to hear your thoughts!

What are you doing to put some strategy, structure and order in place? I’d love to hear! All best wishes for a week of getting clear on how your vision manifests in the world. And to sharing ideas and practices so we can all avoid time-wasting and inefficiency and get out work done.

May you find that taking a few moments to clear the way brings hope and focus. And let me know what you think of this post and this weekly Tarot Narrative!

Keep in touch & free ebook on the ’36 Books that Shaped my Story’

You can work with me to help develop strategy and order in your creative life and work. Free 30-45 minute coaching consults chats are available so please get in touch at terri@quietwriting.com to talk further. I’d love to be a guide alongside to help you conduct creativity and magic with spirit and heart in your own unique way. I’m taking a short break in July but consults are being booked now for August and an August/September coaching start!

You can download my free 94-page ebook on the 36 Books that Shaped my Story – just sign up with your email address in the box to the right or below.  You will also receive updates from Quiet Writing and its passions. This includes personality type, coaching, creativity, writing, tarot and other connections to help express your unique voice in the world.

Quiet Writing is on Facebook and Instagram – keep in touch and interact with the growing Quiet Writing community.

If you enjoyed this post, please share via your preferred social media channel – links are below.

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Strategy, patterns and the higher order of connections

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inspiration & influence intuition

Strategy, patterns and the higher order of connections

March 19, 2018

We can’t learn to see if we can’t keep our eyes open. In just this way, staying open to the unexpected expands the openness of our heart.

Mark Nepo, The Exquisite Risk

 

A Quiet Writing deep-dive Tarot Narrative each Monday to share intuitive guidance, wisdom and insights from aligned books – for the week and anytime…

This week: the value of strategy, patterns + higher order connections

strategy

Theme for the week beginning 19 March

The theme for this week to guide our overall focus is from Lisa McLoughlin’s Life Design Cards – #19 Design from patterns to details.

strategy

This week is about strategy, patterns and seeing higher order connections. We can get so lost in detail especially when times are tough, not seeing the forest for all of the trees. There is a higher form of pattern and strategy there if we step back for a minute to see it. It might be new ideas, seeking solutions to problems, being more counterintuitive, putting the pieces together in a different way. Whichever, we are encouraged to see from the perspective of recurring patterns, images and signs, to notice synchronicity. We are reminded to see the geometry of our experiences: the spiralling as we revisit old habits to see anew or recognising the higher architecture of our experiences.

Advice from the Guidebook is:

Are you concentrating too much on the details whilst missing the bigger picture, or vice versa?…Aim to find unique solutions where possible.

There is guidance in there too about avoiding making assumptions or having preconceptions, remaining open and seeing links and connections in new ways.

So the guidance this week is around making space for new strategy and design in our thinking.

Tarot Narrative for the week beginning 19 March

strategy

Tarot Narrative: 

Look for strategy, patterns, the higher order of connection now. See what you’re missing, the geometric shape that can hold the unfolding patterns, events and designs. Perceive what is real and what is fear. Work with the counterintuitive, have courage and be creative in finding solutions.

Reading notes:

Cards: Queen of Air (Swords) and Five of Fire (Wands) from The Good Tarot and #36 Come to the Edge in protection (reversed position) from Wisdom of the Oracle.

Book notes:

When we assume that we author everything we experience, we snuff the possibility of being touched by the more numinous dimensions of reality.

Mark Nepo, The Exquisite Risk (p116)

This reading reminds us of the higher order of the strategy of the spirit and opening ourselves to answers beyond the obvious. As Mark Nepo reminds us in ‘The Exquisite Risk’, our ego can have a strong role to play in how we see circumstances; sometimes this means we miss other things like signs, patterns, signals, connections and counterintuitive ways of looking at the situation.

Recent experiences have encouraged me to open up to energy connections and ways of working on more spiritual planes. We can get so preoccupied with the here and now, we forget to breathe deeply, seek answers from our higher guidance and work with energy healing that can help us on another level.

Strategy can sound like a cold word but as an INTJ Jung/Myers-Briggs personality type, it’s second nature to me to see higher patterns. Or at least to attempt to. Like everyone, I can get bogged down in detail and confounded; or conversely, so high in the sky, I miss the real connections.

The Queen of Air (Swords), who links with the INTJ/Mastermind personality type, reminds us to wield our swordy clarity in a real way. As The Good Tarot Guidebook prompts us, this might include: setting healthy boundaries, seeing the underpinning whole, having a clear purpose, and being more honest with ourselves about what is happening.

The Five of Fire (Wands) suggests that freedom to explore ideas and be open is a powerful way to move at this time. Just as Mark Nepo reminds us, it’s not just a mind thing either, it involves openness of heart:

We can’t learn to see if we can’t keep our eyes open. In just this way, staying open to the unexpected expands the openness of our heart.

Mark Nepo, The Exquisite Risk

strategy

The gifts of strategy

I’ve worked in strategy in many areas of my life including leadership of strategic policy in government. The gifts of strategy are many and they include:

  • stepping back to see connections
  • seeing the whole
  • allowing the framework to emerge
  • letting go of false assumptions and unreal fears
  • searching beyond easy solutions
  • putting steps into place to reach higher order solutions
  • being clear in purpose
  • seeing patterns and connections
  • looking for ‘out of the box’ answers, unfamiliar or counterintuitive options
  • doing the research to know the facts
  • brain-storming to open up the possibilities

Applying strategic skills to our lives and looking for patterns and solutions in more holistic ways is encouraged now. This might involve creative work: collage, poetry, brainstorming, mind-mapping, Sacred geometry might be a way of doing this, as Lynn Hanford-Day has found: mandalas, recurring patterns and seeing the whole in a creative and spiritual way.

Sometimes we have to step away and do things differently to see the patterns, connections and emerging solutions. I know working with visual imagery can help me. I am a person who works with words a lot, so working another way such as through visual collage can help me to break through to new ways of seeing things.

strategy

The above is a visual collage in my journal as part of the Softly Wild ecourse by Victoria Smith. This is a kind of paper altar at the start of the journal, a snapshot in time of what I was trying to make sense of then. Once I saw it all together, I understood the message perfectly. But I would have had trouble coming at it in more logical ways. Just taking a few hours with some magazines, a glue stick, a pair of scissors and an open blank page can be the way to work out the critical strategy for the next steps. It’s a way of accessing the unconscious directly, just as tarot is.

We are encouraged to do work counterintuitively now, so lean into what is not so natural for you to open up new possibilities. If you always work with visuals, try writing. Conversely, if you are a word person, take photographs, colour in or make a visual collage to free up different senses and cognitive functions. If you are a logical step by step person, try mind-mapping. Perhaps breaking things up into steps would be helpful if you can get stuck in the big picture and not take action.

What we are attracting and noticing

The law of attraction also has a place in all of this as we work with more spiritual and intuitive dimensions of energy. Thinking about questions like these can help:

  • What are we fearing and how much energy are we putting into that?
  • Are we envisioning the positive of what we desire rather than the negative of what we don’t want?
  • What is leading your thinking – fear or positive desires?
  • Are we taking time to notice signs, symbols and synchronicity or have we dulled our intuition?
  • How are we flexing our intuitive skills in the everyday to find higher wisdom?

We are encouraged to open our eyes to the higher order of connections and symbols and to their magic now. As Carl Jung reminds us:

Life is a luminous pause between two mysteries that are yet one.

strategy

Strategy work in action

It’s important to remember what practices help you in your own strategy work and making connections at this time. What helps you in making sense of things? Which activities open up options and solutions?

Here are some ideas and options for tapping into your strategic side:

  • mind-mapping
  • brainstorming
  • making lists
  • colouring in
  • drawing and painting
  • taking photographs
  • making collages
  • journalling
  • poetry
  • gathering facts
  • envisioning
  • creating mandalas
  • researching ideas

Write your own list of activities for developing strategy, identifying patterns and making connections this week.

This is a great week for uncovering more strategic and connected approaches to life!

Love to hear your thoughts!

I’d love to hear if you are feeling these energies around the need for strategy, seeing patterns and deeper connections.

All best wishes for this week of making new connections, being open, seeing patterns and using all this to progress in our creativity and in life challenges.

May the Queen of Air guide you to clarity and openness in matters of ideas and of the heart. And let me know what you think of this post and this weekly Tarot Narrative!

strategy

Keep in touch & free ebook on the ’36 Books that Shaped my Story’

You can work with me to help tap into that inner wisdom and magic guidance. Free 30-45 minute coaching consults chats are available in March + April for a May coaching start so please get in touch at terri@quietwriting.com to talk further. I’d love to be a guide alongside to help you conduct creativity and magic with spirit and heart in your own unique way.

You can download my free 95-page ebook on the 36 Books that Shaped my Story – just sign up with your email address in the box to the right or below.  You will also receive updates from Quiet Writing and its passions. This includes personality type, coaching, creativity, writing, tarot and other connections to help express your unique voice in the world.

Quiet Writing is on Facebook and Instagram – keep in touch and interact with the growing Quiet Writing community.

If you enjoyed this post, please share via your preferred social media channel – links are below.

You might also enjoy:

Seeking wisdom in water and elsewhere

Grief and pain can be our most important teachers

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Alchemy and conducting magic with spirit and heart

February 26, 2018

Our small lives, which so often can seem random, or meaningless, are actually an organic part of the cosmos.

Rachel Pollack, Tarot Wisdom

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A Quiet Writing deep-dive Tarot Narrative each Monday to share intuitive guidance, wisdom and insights from aligned books – for the week and anytime…

This week: alchemy + conducting magic with spirit + heart

Theme for the week beginning 26 February

The theme for this week to guide our overall focus is from Lisa McLoughlin’s Life Design Cards – Journal ‘Dear Nature…’

alchemy

I always draw the theme card first to set the key message for the week. At its core, this week is about connecting with ourselves through the alchemy and spirit of nature. When life gets a bit crazy, tuning into the magic of the sea, the bush and the sky is the perfect way to get answers. As I have moved through my transition journey, I’ve spent time sitting on the beach, journal in hand. It’s time to get back to this practice now and listen to the wisdom of nature, spirit and ourselves.

This is a great week for finding quiet space with a book and a pen and connecting with the cosmos. Advice from the Guidebook is:

Receive advice and guidance from the natural world.

We are encouraged to write a letter to Nature voicing concerns, asking for advice, to then walk and notice anything that comes to us. And then to allow Nature to respond by writing a second letter once home.

This is such a wise way to engage with nature and open ourselves to the alchemy of wholeness. Writing in nature is one of the simplest acts of connection. But how often do we do it? It’s so easy to get caught in our offices, our homes, our cafes and forget the magic that happens when we open ourselves to the natural world and its gifts.

Whether it’s finding shells that shape speak to us, stones that we can hold to ground ourselves, or feathers that seem like messages on our path, being open to these gifts can help us gain insight and meaning. The sheer act of opening up to a blank page in a quiet space in nature is a way of opening up to ourselves and seeing what the universe provides as an answer.

So the guidance this week is around the alchemy of being receptive to the elements and wisdom of the universe. We are actively encouraged to engage with this practical magic with book and pen in hand.

Tarot Narrative for the week beginning 26 February

alchemy

Tarot Narrative: 

You might be focusing on all that’s not perfect or right just now. Or maybe you’ve learnt through habit to think in terms of loss, feeling poor or less than. But you are standing like a magician posed between the earth and sky, conducting creativity like alchemy. Get out into nature and ground yourself like the conductor you are. As you manage change on many fronts, know that connecting yourself with joy and spirit through the elements – wind, water, earth, warmth – will yield solutions and magic as you co-create with forces beyond you.

Reading notes

Cards: Five of Earth (Pentacles) and The Magician from The Good Tarot and #12 A Change in the Wind in protection (reversed position) from Wisdom of the Oracle.

Book notes:

Our small lives, which so often seem random, or meaningless, are actually an organic part of the cosmos. This is one of the great teachings of the Tarot, and ultimately one of the reasons we do readings – not just to find out information, or to seek guidance or self-knowledge (all of which are important) but also to demonstrate to ourselves that the universe is not broken pieces. Things connect.

Rachel Pollack, Tarot Wisdom (p. 34)

This reading and narrative sends strong messages about connecting with the alchemy and wisdom of the universe. Rachel Pollack in ‘Tarot Wisdom’ emphasises that The Magician is a card that is auspicious especially for writers and other creatives “for it symbolizes creativity itself.” The Magician is the card that I have chosen to symbolize the alchemist creator spirit of Quiet Writing. So it was exciting to see it arrive today in this first week of beginning a new phase of my creative journey and business, free from my former work role and fully embracing my body of work in transition.

Today’s narrative reminds us that though we might find ourselves having a habit of focusing on what is not right or not done or over the next horizon, we just need to still ourselves in nature. Connecting the inner and outer especially through writing in nature are highlighted at this time.

alchemy

Dealing with a habit of loss

The Five of Earth from the beautiful ‘The Good Tarot’ deck reminds us that reminds us that we can get preoccupied by “the illusion of lack”. It also mentions “overlooked treasures.” I have included the Rider-Waite version of the card too in the tarot flat lay so you can see the visuals there. It is all about difficulty, feeling in exile, out in the cold, or like we are seeing everything through a glass half empty lens.

My journey through transition and leaving the organisation I have worked in for 30 plus years has certainly had overtones of just this feeling. With my job deleted and becoming redundant, it’s been easy to feel like I’m out in the cold and focus on the negative. This can happen with any experience of change – change of location, relationship or job. All can have elements of feeling shunned, undervalued, less than or just plain nostalgic for how things used to be. With all of this melancholy, we can miss fully embracing the treasures unfolding under our nose.

The Good Tarot ‘Five of Earth’ reminds us through its beautiful imagery that the answer is to ground ourselves in the earth, in nature, connected to the magic of nature and the beauty of the world. As the Fountain Tarot puts it for this card:

From a place of quiet you can assess what is truly imprtant, learn from what the moment is teaching you, and determine what resources are actually at your disposal.

Just as last week’s narrative focused on blossoming, this week’s theme is about the alchemy of connecting with nature to work out our magic.

Alchemy + conducting magic

The Magician reminds us of the importance of partnership with spirit and gaining a broader perspective of our efforts. Just as the habit of thinking in terms of loss can cramp our vision, so can not opening ourselves to spirit. Again, the Rider-Waite imagery for this card is valuable in reminding us of how we can be a conduit for creative magic through being receptive and grounding ourselves.

This card shows us that we need to be reaching up to alchemy, to spirit and the power of the universe, to the magic of synchronicity. At the same time, we need to be grounding ourselves in nature and the elements, represented by the items on the table at the Magician’s disposal. The Magician is like an orchestra conductor as he stands between spirit and nature, connecting them. So too we can be conductors of magic as we open ourselves to spirit and inspiration, especially from natural sources.

Sallie Nichols in ‘Jung and Tarot’ talks about the Magician in terms of synchronicity and how we can open ourselves to increasing chances of meaningful coincidences at peak times:

It is our inner Magician, of course, who is responsible for these miraculous eruptions of the unitary world into our everyday world of space and time, cause and effect. (p62)

alchemy

Alchemy + connecting things

The Magician’s art of alchemy is about connecting things, especially between the inner and outer. So we might be outside in the elements, gathering thoughts in our journal as we connect with nature and notice gifts in our surroundings. Or we might work with tarot and oracle cards for guidance and wisdom as a way of engaging with spirit and connecting with our inner wisdom. Synchronicity might be a visitor as we tune in for signs and symbols especially at times of change.

Alchemy and making connections to transform them positively is a key theme this week weaving through all of the cards. Sallie Nichols shares in ‘Jung and Tarot’ that:

Magic is sometimes called the science of hidden relationships.

She says Jung identified through research that “hopeful expectancy” is an ingredient in common in many magic, miracles and parapsychological events. We need to embrace the “archetype of the miracle” at this time instead of the stories of loss, lack or poverty we might have told ourselves.

It’s time this week to channel our inner magician, get our conducting wands of spirit and creativity out that just might be in the form of a pen and book. And seek natural environments that will open us up and renew us, rather than shut u down.

This is a great week for alchemy and conducting magic with spirit and heart. 

Look to see where you might be working out of a perspective of loss, comparison or lack and see where you can conduct your own magic. Get out in nature and write. Don’t be afraid to use the tools that work for you, being unapologetic. Embrace what you love. You too could have a desk like mine 😉

alchemy

Love to hear your thoughts!

I’d love to hear if you are feeling these energies around alchemy and conducting magic with spirit and heart, especially being in nature to help connect our inner and outer worlds now.

  • Where have you developed the habit of thinking in terms of loss or lack?
  • How are you making time for connecting with the magic of nature?
  • Where are you practising alchemy and where could you deepen your practice?
  • In which areas are you holding back because of fear or other’s opinions?
  • How can you conduct magic in your writing or other creative work?
  • What stops you feeling that sense of alchemy and magic?
  • How can you be more magical in your approaches to life?
  • Where can you be more receptive to synchronicity or meaningful signs?

All best wishes for this week of being out in nature and writing, conducting creativity with the aid of the cosmos and grounding ourselves with the wisdom of the earth. I hope that you find meaningful connections, alchemy and synchronicity arising as you create this time and space in your life.

May The Magician guide you in conducting creativity and connecting with spirit to guide your path especially if it’s a time of big change. And let me know what you think of this post and this weekly Tarot Narrative!

alchemy

Keep in touch & free ebook on the ’36 Books that Shaped my Story’

You can work with me to help tap into that inner wisdom and magic guidance. Free 30-45 minute coaching consults chats are available in February and March for a May coaching start so please get in touch at terri@quietwriting.com to talk further. I’d love to be a guide alongside to help you conduct creativity and magic with spirit and heart in your own unique way.

You can download my free 95-page ebook on the 36 Books that Shaped my Story – just sign up with your email address in the box to the right or below.  You will also receive updates from Quiet Writing and its passions. This includes personality type, coaching, creativity, writing, tarot and other connections to help express your unique voice in the world.

Quiet Writing is on Facebook and Instagram – keep in touch and interact with the growing Quiet Writing community.

If you enjoyed this post, please share via your preferred social media channel – links are below.

You might also enjoy:

Exploring magic as the heart of creative inspiration

Your body of work – the greatest gift for transition to a bright new life

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Secret superpowers for creative energy and inspiration

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Creative practices in my tool-kit to make the most of this year’s energies

How I plan to manifest energy, joy and intention to make the most of this year

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Blossoming on your own terms for long-term success

February 19, 2018

You are just getting started, so have patience with yourself and the process, and do not give up.

Aeracura, Blossoming

Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards – Doreen Virtue

___________________________________

A Quiet Writing deep-dive Tarot Narrative each Monday to share intuitive guidance, wisdom and insights from aligned books – for the week and anytime…

This week: blossoming on your own terms + patience for long-term success 

blossoming

Theme for the week beginning 19 February

The theme for this week to guide our overall focus is from Doreen Virtue’s Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards – Aeracura – Blossoming.

Blossoming

Anyone else feeling they want to burst out there with your work but knowing you need to be patient right now? This is a great week for realising those tensions and being patient, remembering where you are in your process. Advice from the Guidebook is:

In many ways, you are like a flower bud who is ripe and ready to open and grow. Don’t try to rush this process, as it’s part of your beautiful path.

This theme is key to Quiet Writing generally with a focus on process, not just product. The steps in getting there are just as important as the point of arrival. But it’s hard to remember this sometimes as we struggle to create all that is in our mind or vision. We need to be gentle with ourselves; keep focused, yes, but not overwhelm ourselves with action. Sometimes we need to integrate what we are learning, taking things in and working with them internally before the blossoming stage. To represent the energy of this phase, working with flowers in any way including with flower essences is highlighted for this time.

So the guidance this week is around moving forward but with gentleness and self-compassion, with an eye on the long-term creative blossoming process. And in this, understanding the true nature of any fears and working intuitively is a powerful help.

Tarot Narrative for the week beginning 19 February

blossoming

Tarot Narrative: On your own terms

You’re standing strong, clear and analytical with plans you can work with. You are gathering yourself, researching the options and content. You’re poised on the threshold of a time of self-sufficiency when it all culminates into joy and satisfaction. Have patience with the tenderness of it all and look to see what is real and what is masquerading as fear. You are blossoming and on your own terms now.

Reading notes

Cards: Father (King) of Swords and Nine of Cups from The Wild Unknown Tarot and #36 Come to the Edge in protection (reversed position) from Wisdom of the Oracle.

Book notes:

When we turn to face our fears, we discover that our fear is False Evidence Appearing Real – an illusion manufactured by our egos.

Debrena Jackson Gandy, All The Joy You Can Stand (p. 332)

This reading and narrative sends strong messages about being analytically clear and organised as we head towards blossoming and experiencing the fruit of our labours. The seeds of joy are real and we are so close to tasting them as they come to fruition. But we are encouraged to take time: to research, be patient, and to work with fear.

How we marshall our resources is key. This is a theme that popped up recently here (29 January reading) also with the King of Swords. This King is all about gathering, marshalling, making workable plans, putting emotion aside and getting on with it. He encourages us to put our knowledge into practice with swordy clarity and analytical skills. Conquering fear practically is also a way to move through these times.

Managing a sense of urgency

The Nine of Cups reminds us in this blossoming process that we are heading towards creative self-sufficiency. We are learning to be more self-sustaining, knowing when to listen to others and when to trust our own judgement. As Jessa Crispin reminds us in ‘The Creative Tarot’, this card is about “finding satisfaction all on your own.”

This rings so true for me as I head into the threshold of a new life. This week I will be finishing up in my work role of 30 plus years. I’ve been planning and working for this transition for the longest time. My goal is to establish a ‘self-sustaining creative life’. This means not working for someone else, working for myself, with creativity as the heart of what I do. Getting to this pivotal time, I feel a sense of urgency. I’ve been struggling with a feeling of pressure to get everything I have planned out into the world perfectly formed – and now!

I’ve had to learn that, though this time feels urgent like I want to burst out into full flower, I need to move steadily and take my time. I need to realise much is in the process of blossoming already. Taking a moment to get perspective and see how far I have come helps with feeling more joyful about my progress. I am still integrating everything I am learning and it’s a process to enjoy, not one to rush through. I’m reflecting too on my body of work over my life so far and how I am taking it forward into this new time.

Fear management + blossoming

Fear can be part of this wanting to rush forward too. As both the ‘Come to the Edge’ card and the quote above from ‘All the Joy you can Stand’ remind us,  Fear can be ‘False Evidence Appearing Real’. Our job at these sensitive times of change is to work out what really is to be feared and what we have ourselves may have manufactured into fear. Facing our fears and identifying what is lowering our energy is important as we are working on blossoming into new times.

This week when you think about your plans, think of how any fear or impatience is manifesting. Sometimes it can be fear of being left behind, a kind of comparisonitis, as we see others write books, start businesses and come out of the blocks in places where we too want to shine. We can feel like we are never going to get our act together as we compare ourselves to others perhaps much further down the road than us. And in a way that will never be kind to ourselves.

Being creatively self-sufficient, knowing what you need to do in your own time and on your own terms, is powerful work this week. It might be rest, revisioning, stepping up, recasting, finishing a draft, starting a project, knowing what to do first. Perhaps it’s taking on board other’s feedback but knowing what to do with that feedback.

Sometimes fear can be a sign we are stepping up into a new phase as Tara Mohr reminds us in ‘Playing Big’. Tara explains that there are two kinds of fear concepts in biblical Hebrew: ‘pachad’, projected or illusory fear and ‘yirah’ – “the fear that overcomes us when we suddenly find ourselves in possession of considerably more energy than we are used to.” Both are useful concepts to work with as we come to the edge of our blossoming – and learn which fear to play down and which to embrace.

blossoming

On your own terms

The Art of Life Tarot deck has a beautiful way of coalescing messages in art and quotes. For the  Nine of Cups, we are reminded via Marcus Amnaeous Seneca that:

A happy life is one in accordance with its own nature.

That is a key theme this week weaving through all of the cards. If we are to truly blossom as ourselves, we need to follow our own path. Creative influence is a wonderful thing but we need to take it on board and coalesce it our own way, finding our own path on our own terms. This week provides energies for doing just that, working with wisdom on our fears and frustrations.

This can show up in so many ways for us: Where are we feeling impatient? What plan have we put in place to make the work happen? Is the plan actually workable? How do we know? What research is there to help us define our creative way in the world? How can we use it?

This is a great week for blossoming on our own terms in our own time.

Look to see where you might be undercutting your own process with fear or comparisonitis. It’s not a race; it’s bringing ourselves wholeheartedly into the world and that takes time, patience and discovering our own unique ways of working.

Blossoming

 

Love to hear your thoughts!

I’d love to hear if you are feeling these energies around blossoming on your own terms, patience and fear now.

  • How might you bring blossoming forth more gently?
  • Where might you support growth with planning and action?
  • Which fears are helpful and which ones are not?
  • Where is there a valid reason for fear and what can you do about it?
  • What will help you create workable plans?
  • Where can you value and enjoy the process more?
  • How can you be more self-compassionate?
  • Where can analytical clarity help you make decisions and move through any blocks?

All best wishes for this week of being patient with blossoming and long-term plans and getting there on our own terms. It’s powerful work and not always easy, but I look forward to a week of moving through some threshold days in my own life.

May Aeracura also guide you with blossoming, with patience, and on your own terms. And let me know what you think of this post and this weekly Tarot Narrative!

blossoming

Keep in touch & free ebook + Wholehearted Library

You can download the Reading Wisdom Guide for Creatives, Coaches + Writers as well as my  free 95-page ebook on the 36 Books that Shaped my Story.

Just sign up with your email address in the box to the right or below.  You will receive access to the Wholehearted Library and Beach Notes updates from Quiet Writing and its passions. This includes personality type, coaching, creativity, writing, tarot and other connections to help express your unique voice in the world.

Quiet Writing is on Facebook and Instagram – keep in touch and interact with the growing Quiet Writing community.

If you enjoyed this post, please share via your preferred social media channel – links are below.

You might also enjoy:

Joy – 18 inspiring quotes on enjoying what you do and love

Secret superpowers for creative energy and inspiration

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How to align priorities with your directions and make a mark

February 12, 2018

Keep your unwavering thoughts, feelings, and actions focused on your target, and you will make your mark.

Diana, Focused Intention

Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards – Doreen Virtue

___________________________________

A Quiet Writing deep-dive Tarot Narrative each Monday to share intuitive guidance, wisdom and insights from aligned books – for the week and anytime…

This week: focused intention + restructuring to align priorities

align priorities

Theme for the week beginning 12 February

The theme for this week to guide our overall focus is from Doreen Virtue’s Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards – Diana – Focused Intention.

As the steely image in the card suggests, this is a great week to get clear about your targets and align your priorities with where you want to go. Advice from the Guidebook is:

Know what your priorities are and take action on them.

It is a theme that also came up for me in daily angel card readings, including this beautiful card from Kyle Gray’s Angel Prayers deck:

align priorities

So the guidance this week is around tackling any scattered and overwhelmed feelings with focus. We need to work out our intentions and the desired mark we want to make. Then we need to align priorities through actions to move towards this. “Unwavering” is a word that speaks strongly to me now as we work out how to move steadily towards our target.

It’s not about speed or time; it’s about persistence, focus and effort. I know my learning around last week’s message of Determine what’s going to help was realising what I need to do now. And surprise – it’s not everything! Determining what’s going to help includes identifying actions to do first to align priorities and this week’s guidance continues this theme.

This week’s focus is on making decisions, knowing our intentions and keeping focused. Strategic action is key. It’s about stepping away from indecision, lack of clarity and trying to attempt everything at once. In there also is a piece around taking our own road and making our own mark as we align our priorities.

Tarot Narrative for the week beginning 12 February

align priorities

Tarot Narrative: Realigning priorities

Restructure your priorities to focus clearly on your target direction now. You might be wavering and indecisive. Watch that this is not a form of resistance or procrastination. Make decisions on the path that is right for you. And align your actions, straight as an arrow towards that mark. Keep persevering and aiming, shaking off distractions with refinement, choice and focus as allies.

Reading notes

Cards: Two of Swords and Five of Rods (Wands) from the Sakki Sakki Tarot and #10 Unfinished Symphony in protection (reversed position) from Wisdom of the Oracle.

Book notes:

No words can be said, no teaching can be taught that will relieve spiritual travellers from the necessity of picking their own ways, working out with effort and anxiety their own paths through the unique circumstances of their own lives toward the identification of their individual selves with God.

M Scott Peck, The Road Less Travelled (p. 332)

In our various ways of expressing ourselves in the world, our spiritual and creative growth is about something greater than ourselves. Whether you call it God or something else, in this week’s guidance there is also a key message of finding our own path. Making decisions can be about taking a road that is less travelled or picking our own way. Though hard, in this, we carve out a strategy and choose what we want to do, how we want to be, the work we do, what we create, how we live, what is important.

How we allocate our time and align our priorities is key.

Sometimes we find we are not making choices, wavering and unsure of what to do first. When we have this mindset, we often try and do everything and do it now. This results in overwhelm and can become a subtle form of procrastination and self-sabotage.

Another strategy is to focus the mind, ask for help from spiritual guides and supporters, open ourselves up and identify where we are heading. Even if we are not ready now to do all we aspire to, working towards that target will keep us on track, unwavering and focused.

An example for me has been getting my book draft written. It has been a goal for some years and I’ve had a few different options – fiction and non-fiction – in mind. Once I became clear on my target: to write my non-fiction book, “Wholehearted” first, it was much easier to be in action. I chose coaches to help me get there and I brainstormed, outlined and started drafting. Finding the right support, strategies and actually starting (yes!) made it easier to do NaNoWriMo in November last year. Now I have a nearly finished 72,000-word first draft.

Align priorities

As the Two of Swords reminds us, indecision can have its own form of anguish. There might be competing priorities and everything looks good and doable. Sometimes too we can see things as purely one way or another, blind to innovative options or a third way. Jessa Crispin reminds us about the power of two’s in ‘The Creative Tarot’:

A two card can show you how two different influences or demands can be brought together to form something completely new.

This week when you think about your target or plan, think about how you might bring two seemingly opposed options together. Restrategise, align priorities differently to get clear on your target and see how you can step through any blindness or procrastination.

Just making a key decision will help immensely this week. Think too about what’s been flummoxing you and whether you are making it more complicated than it needs to be.

The Sakki Sakki Five of Rods (Wands) card echoes this by showing a chaotic scene with lots of action. The Rider-Waite version of this card (below) is so good too. Anyone else’s mind, priority list or desk feeling a bit like this now, like a team with all the players moving in different directions? Any unfinished business weaving its shadow through everything so you can’t find a clear way?

align priorities

Making your mark

Another beautiful version of the Five of Wands from the Art of Life Tarot deck reminds us via Euripides that:

The wisest men follow their own direction.

One of the challenges in making decisions and aligning priorities is to know your own path.

This can show up in so many ways for us: What is the essence of our brand? Where do we want to focus our creative energies? What do we stand for? Where do we want to be at the end of the year? What do we want to produce?

I’ve just worked through Susannah Conway’s Unravel Your Year 2018 workbook. This is an annual practice I have done since 2014. It’s helped me to know where I want to make my mark in 2018. Knowing this, I can align priorities and actions accordingly.

This is a great week for stepping back to align priorities with our path in life. Working out our mark, road, unique offering or brand and how we want to make a difference is key.

Looking to see where we can focus our unwavering attention and effort over time in line with our direction is highlighted. 

align priorities

 

Love to hear your thoughts!

I’d love to hear if you are feeling these energies around competing priorities, making decisions, aligning priorities, setting direction, making choices and being in action over time.

  • How might you identify what your mark or target is this year?
  • What actions will help you get there?
  • Which strategic choices are you holding off for whatever reason?
  • How can you review the choices to see if there is another way?
  • What will help you focus your attention on your goals?
  • Where are you feeling warring internal factions and how can you get them aligned?
  • How can you set a steady course over time and stop rushing now?

All best wishes for this week of realigning priorities and getting clear on our targets. I look forward to a week of gaining clarity on where I want to make a mark and how I can get there with these energies. May Diana also guide you with focused intention. And let me know what you think of this post and this weekly Tarot Narrative!

align priorities

Keep in touch & free ebook on the ’36 Books that Shaped my Story’

You can download my free 95-page ebook on the 36 Books that Shaped my Story – just sign up with your email address in the box to the right or below.  You will also receive updates from Quiet Writing and its passions. This includes personality type, coaching, creativity, writing, tarot and other connections to help express your unique voice in the world.

Quiet Writing is on Facebook and Instagram – keep in touch and interact with the growing Quiet Writing community.

If you enjoyed this post, please share via your preferred social media channel – links are below.

You might also enjoy:

Secret superpowers for creative energy and inspiration

Creating essential intent and making the right choices

Self-leadership, feedback and marshalling resources for the best week

Creative practices in my tool-kit to make the most of this year’s energies

How I plan to manifest energy, joy and intention to make the most of this year

20 practical ways of showing up and being brave (and helpful)

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