Author: benebell

Book Review of Shamanic Astrology by Lucy Harmer

On By benebellIn astrology, book review, divination, promotional1 Comment

shamanic-astrology-lucy-harmer-01-book-cover

When I cracked open the front cover of this book, I didn’t even know what shamanic astrology was. I didn’t even know spirit animal signs were a thing. So that’s where I’m coming from as a book reviewer– not a place of knowledge or expertise, but the place of a beginner and how this book might serve the beginner.

Shamanic Astrology: Understanding Your Spirit Animal Sign by Lucy Harmer (North Atlantic Books, 2009) introduces the twelve spirit animal signs of the Native American medicine wheel and how these animal signs correspond with our date of birth. Prominent public figures in the metaphysical community, such as Judy Hall (The Crystal Bible) and astrologers Derek and Julia Parker, Dr. Steven Farmer (Earth Magic and Animal Spirit Guides), Vicki Noble, creator of the Motherpeace Tarot, and so many more have thrown their positive weight toward Shamanic Astrology to give their endorsements.

shamanic-astrology-lucy-harmer-02-interior-page

The book is delightfully comprehensive. An introductory chapter acquaints you with shamanic astrology, the medicine wheel, and both the solar and lunar cycles. Then Harmer dives into the background of how spirit animals are interpreted, i.e., seasons, cycles, winds and directions, elements and clans, metaphysical correspondences, life paths, etc. Each of the twelve animal signs are covered, starting with a profile chart, description of personality, key metaphysical correspondences and influences, and then general insights into that sign’s luck– career, money, health, and then love. In the love section, compatibility with the other animal signs is provided. Shamanic Astrology closes with advanced material on the medicine wheel and the lunar calendars.

Now let’s take a look at the twelve spirit animal signs. Later in this review, check out Table 2.10 from Shamanic Astrology, which outlines the strengths and weaknesses of the twelve spirit animals.

Table 1.1 from Shamanic Astrology. Click image for closer viewing.
Table 1.1 from Shamanic Astrology. Click image for closer viewing.

Continue reading “Book Review of Shamanic Astrology by Lucy Harmer” →

The Tao of Craft: In Stores Now

On By benebellIn Tao of Craft (book)19 Comments

Check out the “book trailer” I made by clicking above. Or just read below. I put book trailer in quotes because it’s not really a book trailer in the standard sense, as you’ll see.

After Holistic Tarot, I went to work on a book about feng shui. One of the chapters covered feng shui cures, and a common feng shui cure used in East Asian households is the Fu talisman. Growing up in the Western world, I’ve always laughed a little at the Fu talisman. It’s treated like a panacea. Bad feng shui? No problem– Fu talisman. Need a promotion at work? Fu talisman. No luck in finding love? Fu talisman. Weight loss? Yep, Fu talisman. And, of course, there’s also the fantastical–exorcisms and conjurings. How do you summon a demon, repel a hungry ghost, or invoke a tree spirit? Well, the same way you find love or lose weight, silly– a Fu talisman.

Needless to say, I’ve come to realize that’s not quite the right characterization of the Fu. Those would be, yep you’ve guessed it, common mainstream misconceptions of esoteric Taoist practices. In fact, the more I delved into the Fu, the more these centuries-old texts satiated my inner nerd. Not only were the alchemists and ceremonial magicians that thrived thousands of years ago deliberate, precise, detail-oriented, and thorough, much of it resonates closer to modern science than one might presume, though the vocabulary has changed. In The Tao of Craft, many of the end notes cover these parallels. The deeper I went down the rabbit hole of historic research (and experiential practice), the prouder I felt about being who I was, descending from the lines I descend from, and feeling a genuine affinity for my heritage.

Continue reading “The Tao of Craft: In Stores Now” →

Tarot BlogHop: Tarot and a Seven Course Brunch

On By benebellIn holistic food, personal, promotional, tarot, tarot community23 Comments

PREVIOUS BLOG | MASTER LIST | NEXT BLOG

food-and-tarot

I’m thrilled to be participating in the “Foodies Guide to the Tarot” BlogHop hosted by our co-wranglers Jay Cassels and Arwen Lynch Poe. The topic was left wide open for us bloggers to go in any direction of our pleasure, as long as it had to do with tarot and it had to do with food. I’m thinking I’ve done just that.

The Major Arcana of the tarot deck can be subdivided into Three Septenaries. The First Septenary of the Major Arcana is about the primal dramas of the ego, expressed by the first seven Keys of the Majors: Keys I through VII. You can read more about the Three Septenaries here.

Menu Planning with Tarot?
Menu Planning with Tarot?

Inspired by the First Septenary, I will be preparing a seven course brunch for Hubby and me. (Jay and Arwen: the hubby thanks you for your BlogHop topic idea). Here we go.

Continue reading “Tarot BlogHop: Tarot and a Seven Course Brunch” →

Review of the Labyrinth Wisdom Cards

On By benebellIn deck review, oracle deck6 Comments

Labryinth Wisdom Cards 01 Box Set
It was love at first sight, between me and the Labyrinth Wisdom Cards by Tony Christie. You can buy the deck here, and check out some videos of the deck creator here and here. Definitely watch the videos.

Labryinth Wisdom Cards 02 Cards

Tony Christie is an author, inspirational speaker, artist, spiritual healer, and labyrinth designer. The labyrinth is an ancient symbol that is over 4000 years old, and what it is in a nutshell is a winding, circular path from a perimeter outer point to the center, or the heart of a matter.

Use the labyrinth as a form of walking meditation. You ask a question before the walk, hold that issue in your mind, then walk the labyrinth and when you reach the center, the revelation will come to you.

Likewise, the Labyrinth Wisdom Cards are intended to operate in the same way. Hold an issue in your mind, then pick a Labyrinth Wisdom oracle card, and see what the labyrinth card has to say to you.

Choose a card, left, center, or right
Choose a card, left, center, or right

Let’s give it a try. Think of a question or issue that you’d like an answer for. Hold that matter in your mind through the course of this post, before selecting a card, and then at the end of the post, you’ll select one of those three Labyrinth cards.

Continue reading “Review of the Labyrinth Wisdom Cards” →

Shadow Work with a Tarot or Oracle Deck

On By benebellIn cartomancy, divination, free download, oracle deck, personal spirituality, promotional, tarot, tarot community13 Comments

Shadow Work 02

I’ve put together a self-guided workbook that takes you through one session of shadow working with a tarot or oracle deck. I used an oracle deck I created for myself, which I share for free here (scroll down). Go there and you can download all digital files for it to print out and produce your own copy of the deck.

Continue reading “Shadow Work with a Tarot or Oracle Deck” →

The 2016 Card Reading Magic Summit

On By benebellIn cartomancy, divination, oracle deck, promotional, tarot, tarot community6 Comments
Click the banner to sign up.
Click the banner to sign up.

line

The amazing and illustrious Tori Hartman, author of the Chakra Wisdom Oracle Cards has organized an incredible event–an online cartomancy summit. For access, you’ll need to register. Click on the banner above and register to partake in the summit. Registration is free right now! How cool is that! And just check out the lineup of speakers.

2016tarotcardreadingsummit

No matter where you are in your card reading journey, there is always more to learn about this art that none of us can ever truly perfect. So Tori Hartman has put together a free virtual intuitive festival. By registering, you’ll get the benefit of rarely-heard insights in conversations with well-known groundbreakers and up-and-coming experts.

Card Reading Magic is an online event that features 18 speakers. It will take place between September 14 and 18. For more details, you’ll have to sign up.

During this virtual intuitive festival, you’ll discover:

– How to gain more specific, in depth information from your readings
– The five essentials of card reading
– How you can use your intuition more effectively and naturally
– Mistakes that keep you from accurate readings
– How you can shift into the zone of being a card reader quickly and easily
– Simple techniques to move away from the guidebook
– How to put the story together for your clients by linking cards
– The insider secrets of self-publishing decks from experts who have done it

September 14 through 18, 2016.

Mark it in your calendar, folks.

line

A Free Gift?

Oh yes. By the way, every speaker will be giving away a free gift. Let me just tell you, I couldn’t quite figure out the instructions for what I was supposed to do exactly in terms of the logistics for giving away said gift. I know it’s related to getting you to register for the event through my link. So this is going to be my best guess for what I was supposed to do about the affiliate link, free gift, and such. So first, here’s my link:

https://gj248.isrefer.com/go/crm/benebell/

Here’s a shortlink of that link that’s easier to remember:

http://tinyurl.com/cardreadingsummit

Click on my referral link to register and, well, register. Free gift or not, it’s going to be an awesome summit, so register regardless.

Then e-mail me at benebellwen@gmail.com to let me know you’ve registered. Then I’ll email you the free gift!

What’s the free gift? It’s a 30-page [edit: added new sections, so now it’s] 35-page workbook, “Independent Shadow Work Cartomancy Session.” You’ll get it as either a DOCX or PDF file. In your email to me, let me know your preference.

09/01/16 Update: Okay, sorry but the “email me and I’ll send as attachment” routine was a bad idea. This post went up, I went to bed, I woke up, checked email, and it was bombarded with boldfaced emails for as far as the finger could scroll. Eeps. So we’re not doing that anymore. Instead, the honor system. Please register using my affiliate link and as my thank you gift to you, download the “Independent Shadow Work Cartomancy Session” workbook below. Choose between PDF or DOCX, or heck, download both if you really want.

line
DOCX | Shadow Work Session with the Cards

PDF | Shadow Work Session with the Cards

line

So register, mark September 14 through 18 in your calendar, and email me to [edit: see above links for direct download] get your free “Independent Shadow Work Cartomancy Session” workbook. It’s a 30-page 35-page, 1-2 hour guided tarot or oracle card reading and shadow work session you do for yourself, the results of which, I have to imagine, are going to be provocative.

See you at the summit!

Writing and Publishing Nonfiction: Module IV

On By benebellIn book writing, free download6 Comments

Writing and Publishing Nonfiction Independent Study Course

Whereas Module III covered traditional publishing, Module IV will address self-publishing.

Module IV: Independent (or Self) Publishing

Module 4 will cover basic pointers for self-publishing. There will be 5 lectures, 1 workbook that you should complete, and supplementary handouts that you will want to go through in the order noted below. I’m also providing a few unaffiliated external links, so you have someplace to start shopping around for printing presses, getting price quotes, etc.

In the previous modules, the lectures were provided as audio recordings, but my laptop went kaput and I’ve been recording the audio with an app on my laptop. I don’t know how to do it with my desktop, so instead of mp4 files for download in Module 4, we have text–the audio lecture transcripts I would have read off of.

Continue reading “Writing and Publishing Nonfiction: Module IV” →

Review of Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford

On By benebellIn book review, holistic food, personal spirituality, promotional7 Comments

Healing_with_Whole_Foods_by_Paul_Pitchford

Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition by Paul Pitchford (North Atlantic Books) is one of those reference tomes every holistic healing practitioner will want to have in the personal library. I’ll be reviewing the Third Edition published in 2002. It was first released in 1993 and since then, over 500,000 copies have been sold and no wonder.

Click image to enlarge.
Click image to enlarge.

Healing is well-organized, which is a prerequisite for any reference book. He begins where every holistic healer using traditional Chinese medicine would begin: covering Qi vitality and the binary of yin and yang, which he then expands on to cover hot/cold temperaments; interior/exterior physical conditions; and diagnosing for excess versus deficiency.

Continue reading “Review of Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford” →

The Chariot Card: Guest Post at BiddyTarot

On By benebellIn cartomancy, divination, Holistic Tarot (book), personal, personal spirituality, promotional, tarot, tarot community, tarot symbolismLeave a comment
Banner from BiddyTarot
Banner from BiddyTarot

Brigit’s BiddyTarot is one of the most popular (I even dare say the most popular) tarot spot on the web. And it’s for good reason, too. She sustains the site with incredible content. Brigit is compiling a free e-book, Real Life Lessons from the Major Arcana, a collection of 22 essays by 22 tarot authors, each writer covering one Major Arcanum.

I chose Key VII: The Chariot for personal and sentimental reasons. Click on the above banner to go straight to my article over at Biddy. Also, be sure to download the entire e-book for FREE (how cool is that!) by clicking on the below banner or going here.

Continue reading “The Chariot Card: Guest Post at BiddyTarot” →