Animal Guide Portraits

I have been drawing these for a while and I love to connect and put down how they want to be seen on paper..

Each one has a message some even give me a name to give them their little bit of personification. The animal guides there are many different thoughts but I believe that whilst we do have our life long guides there are many that appear for short journeys and some just for a lesson and they are there to guide us through... these are usually the ones that I pick up on as they have the strongest need to be recognized.

I find putting them down on paper, their image gives them more strength and gives something physical to resonate with.. also most people find them a surprise but once they have come through start to notice their signs become more prolific and have even more meaning. They appear on the tv, songs on the radio, picture in magazine take not of the article near as it may have meaning to you. Sometimes the colouring of the animal even can have relevance to the message that they bring. More often than not there is more than one guide sometimes working together, sometimes independently on issues in your life.

I have posted below the images of the guides that I have drawn for people ....

I have many more will add them at a later point.. I loved the mystery with the shark.. the zebra was exciting as was young and full of energy.
The squirrel at the top was a guide that regularly appeared to me so bright red would be in the same place every day which I found amazing and he was so distinctive also...

These were part of the reason I decided to draw my own tarot but something I always love to com back too.. I like there is a different medium for them the shark was done with watercolours.. the others with pastel pencils...

High Priestess Card

So I went into most of the detail surrounding the card on my planning page further down so here is the completed version...

So colourwise I have put the colours which I feel the high priestess inspires.. I think she shows this innocence and open heat so the ball has this misty pink hue to signify a need to be open and trust in yourself here. The high priestess often links back to feelings of intuition again so this is the reason both for the purple and the eye.. the eye is purple to represent the 3rd eye chakra and wide open here. Again sticking with this intuition and colour theme I kept the nails also as purple. The reason behind the crystal ball was to follow the theme of circus and carnival and the fortune tellers. It also represented the naivety that comes with high priestess card as there were also authentic psychics and preyed and people vulnerability so sometimes this card can be a warning against it .. again reflecting back to trusting your own instinct.

I am pretty pleased with the outcome of the card here I think it has captured all the meanings I wanted to hold in this card and for it has kept a neutral aspect where a lot of cards all show a female in this position which on this occasion I wanted to steer away from..

CAMEL - Message

I used this card to do a vision quest in a study group on Aeclectic Tarot,

It is from the Messages from your Animal Spirit Guides..

This is the message that I got from this card,

I was looking forward to this and not sure how much I would get as tbh not finding this particular oracle the most inspiring.. however I would like to delve deeper.. 

I drew the camel for the vision quest which for how I felt about the deck seems like a rather apt card to have drawn. 

So as I close my eyes what I feel first is the extreme heat on my face beating down really harsh conditions. As I strain I have this feeling of him grinning but a sense that I have the strength within to keep going as it feels we have been walking for ages in a place where there is no direction.. almost like wandering with a purpose. 

My feet are sinking in the sand with the sand coming up and pouring over my toes I look at his feet evolved to deal with these condition so I can adapt to my environment too. The camel bends down and gesture to get on showing that accepting help and support is not a weakness.. ask from those who know.. 

We arrive at oasis and the camel takes a long drink really long and encourages me to do the same it is coming accross that perhaps you need to enjoy goodness and benefits cause you dont how long till it comes back round again.. 

we move again and I have this feeling of grit and determination as we battles through the sandstorm. I see his long eyelashes are protecting his eyes against the sand and showing me this as making some sort of shield to deal with these 'sandstorms' 

I also get this very alone feeling from the camel a journey which may feel solitary at times perhaps... it fades 

Thats all I got from the card on this quest but it was certainly an enlightening way of looking at the messages it had to give.. 

Thanks for this exercise I really enjoyed it and reading other peoples experiences although I get jealous I dont have an oracle with the fae...  x

Today finer detail.....

So today have been working on whats inside the crystal ball and as I previously mentioned for me the crystal ball is all about inner site trusting your intuition and opening your mind and third eye to enable you to have clearer vision...

So below is my '3rd eye as how it may appear in the ball.. or which I will surround with a pink glow..

The eye has all these vibrant purples to represent the colouration seen in representations of the 3rd eye chakra or Ajna chakra. Purple also being a deeply spiritual colour this is also to bring this into play too.

Moving back from the crystal ball emphasis to  the 'fortune teller' hands aspect, I hope people will be able to relate to the fortune teller being a show woman. In the old circus/carnivals she was highly creative in her actions, with her costume and using her words. She want to inspire people and another meaning I wanted to bring to this card whilst incorporating my theme which if you hadn't guess was circus-carnival theme.

The pink haze as I often see colours in the ball was to represent the heart chakra and to see this would be to reflect its open nature. I touched upon in the words with my original sketch that the fortune teller also brought with it this feeling of naivety with it as people who visited were often a little innocence and really hoped these predictions would come true not knowing if the reader was genuine or not.

Just to add I will probably lose the eyebrow in the final drawing once inside the ball... and probably go for more of the one eyed cyclops feel ;)

Beginnings of a Tarot...High Priestess

I have been toying with so many ideas I thought I should really begin to get the basics onto paper... This is the beginnings of my high priestess.. and I am search of a female with nice hands and nails to have a picture of their hands in this position holding a tennis ball - apple would be great so please message me if you are able to do this for me.. 

My thoughts of this card... 

The High Priestess

To me she invokes feelings of a spiritual nature and that connection to the spiritual world. I show this visually that a crystal ball is a great tool for invoke that feeling you should use your intuition to trust what you see and feel. ( The ball and fortune teller is crucial to my theme also) I think it is also significant that the crystal ball is laying in the palm of her hands showing that the situation is in your hands and to trust yourself. 
Inside the ball I have drawn an eye and surrounded in purple.. this is to represent the Ajna chakra also know as the third eye. It is to impress that  you should be guided by this ... On a practical level to me it shouts eye opener and having clear vision and looking at tasks from all angles even what is not instantly obvious. 
The fortune teller also brings forth these feelings of being creative as we know this fortune tellers in the stereo typical sense were great show women ( this will become more relevant as more cards pop up in relation to my theme). Fully throwing themselves into the show and getting carried away perhaps yet another message we can take from the High Priestess. To let go of inhibitions and fully submerge ourselves in to tasks ahead. 

The candles are pink and white.. To me these are burning reflecting an open heart chakra that you are willing to let people in and open to new ideas.. The white a purity almost verging on naivety again something that fits with visitors to the fortune tellers that are in my deck people believed them would have been considered naive. The High priestess is sometimes known as the card of innocence perhaps again a clocked message to open your eyes take off the rose tinted spectacles and see what is really there. A card to promote awareness. 

I sure I will have more to add as this card develops but here it is as it stands at the moment. 

Just found a new Tarot spread that I LOVE

So upon practising getting to know what my new decks say to me have stumbled accross a fantastic spread and if I can find the original will be back to give due credit to its creator. I think this spread is so useful for use with tarot and with the oracle cards alike.

It is a 3 card spread--- could be used for career, relationships etc

The traffic light spread

1. Red - What not to do... what best to avoid in a situation...
I have had cards appear which suggest not to over think... not to forget to keep balance the list is infinate and can also depend on the surrounding cards too

2. Amber - What to bear in mind, things which could help or hinder your situation.

3. Green - What to keep doing to make positive changes

This can always be tweaked a little for each reading to make it more specific and I love love love it.

There is so much information you can get from this small three card spread and it has been helpful in looking into the elemental dignities which if i must admit are leaving me a little bamboozled for the moment.. ;) 

More thoughts on my deck - Influence of elements

Sooo...

I keep seeing and hearing references to elements and so this is something I will bear in mind when creating the deck I think perhaps in total it will need to be 10 of each element. to create the deck. So looking more the elements we have;

Water: To me this is all about emotions, it points at things staying the same for the time being not much change but working through what is around you. It focuses on nurturing energies and following your own intuition

Air: This is about problems going on around, intellectual matters. The resources available and using them to make your way forward.

Fire: What can you say about fire. This is about changing happening now.. the raging fire and all. Also get passion and drive here nothings going to get in the way attitude and nothing you can do to stop this either.

Earth : This just calls out  about stability so these card show that change is not happening or it is very slow.

So now to put the cards with each element in the oracles deck starting with the swan.. I had this card for transformation e.g going from the duckling to the swan.. so I think I would place this under the Fire section on this occasion.. If anyone has any thoughts remember you are always welcome to share. I also think of the swan as quite agressive birds too getting what they want... so I do feel that this bird is suited to the fire section.

Sorcerors Tarot

This is the 9 of chalices here.

What I am about ....

I have been thinking for a while about designing my own tarot set which has real meaning for me and hopefully will be easy for others to relate to also. I currently draw people animal guides and pass on the messages to people and this is something I thoroughly enjoy. I have been doing this via the psychic Gail Cuffe's facebook page and this has been exciting and hopefully something which can continue alongside.

I have been practising reading the tarot for a while and have still much to learn but this continuation of learning I hope will help me find the focus and ways to make tarot simple through the designs. I am currently debating whether to begin, not with a tarot but with an oracle deck which incorporates the animal guides which have come forward I do feel that they would love to be shared with others I will post some of the guides which have come forward for others and the designs I hope with the oracles to bring more of the background into the card as to kick off peoples intuition even further. I have found with some of the decks I have there is only the animal on the card and nothing else to allow your intuition some more room to explore and I think this maybe particularly useful for those beginning on their journey.

I have still yet to decide on the number of cards that this deck will incorporate and to think of key words for each one... I think I will let the animals come through first and go for there and aim for 40 - 50 cards for a first project.

I will also pick a card of the day to post both from a tarot deck and an oracle deck so that I can explore and perhaps hear other peoples views on these cards which are pulled. Again I am on a journey to explore my intuition and find other ways to bring forward this...

As a sneaky peek into my thoughts the tarot I am thinking of designing will be surrounding the circus and the fairground.... I am only have a few cards in mind so far being that of the major arcana but once have some first attempts will be posting these online too.

So thats what I plan to do and follow through this blog so please feel free to join in and share... :)