Oracle Readings Received: Jodi Chapman's Soul Clarity Card Draw (Dec 1 2015)

Hi Emma!
Your card is:
Be brave – Take that chance. Break free of your chains. Push past your fear, and leap toward your dreams!
Hugs!

Oracle Readings Received: Jodi Chapman's Soul Clarity Card Draw (Nov 1 2015)

Hi Emma!
Your card is:
Practice self care – Nurture your soul, and soak up the goodness.
Hugs!

Oracle Readings Received: One Card Draw (Oct 31 2015)

Your card :: Two of Pentacles

Two of Pentacles offers balance to your life over the next twelve months. If there has been chaos of any kind in your life, this balance will be a blessed relief. The ability to resolve conflict with a minimum of drama is a great asset, and it's one you'll excel at over the next year. Don't be surprised if your friends come to you for help in resolving issues.

Pimp It! card :: Three of Pentacles [reversed]

In contrast to the previous card, the reversed Three of Pentacles points toward some frustration over the next year. The source of the frustration is unknown, but may come from someone within your greater sphere of influence not accepting the advice you've given them regarding the issue they've brought to you. It may be as simple as finding a different way to explain the options to this person, or it may be as drastic as needing some time apart to deal with the situation. Either way, keep calm and do what you need to do.

Oracle Readings Received: Jodi Chapman's Soul Clarity Card Draw (Oct 1 2015)

Your card is:
Speak your truth – Honor your voice, and let it be heard.

Oracle Readings Received: Jodi Chapman's Soul Clarity Card Draw (Sept 1 2015)

 Emma!
Your card is:
Speak your truth – Honor your voice, and let it be heard!
Hugs!

Oracle Readings Received: Soul Clarity Card Draw (Aug 1 2015)

Hi Emma!
Your card is:
Take responsibility – This is your life. Don’t give it away to anyone else. Empower yourself and live it.
Hugs!

Oracle Readings Received: One Card Draw (Jul 20 2015)

First is the (void). Non-existence may not seem like a good thing, but if there's something you want out of your life, now is a good time to jettison things. Don't be afraid of a blank space, sometimes it's necessary.

Elemental Air is about that deep breath of fresh air, the rush of takeoff, clear thought. Once you have that breathing room, breathe. Take stock. Enjoy the space before you decide how to fill it.

Oracle Readings Received: One Card Draw (July 15 2015)

Your card :: 44 - Basswood

Correspondences: feminine energy, west, Saturn, element of earth

Basswood is used in the Iroquois tobacco ceremony through the False Face mask. Masks allow us to take on another persona, to see the world through eyes other than our own. This can greatly influence our thinking, as it takes us out of our own minds and prejudices. The problem lies in using the mask as a crutch to escape our own realities. Don the mask to get a new point of view, but don't allow yourself to be lost to it.

Pimp It! card :: 54 - Amethyst

Correspondences: masculine energy, sixth chakra, purple, element of earth

Amethyst dovetails very nicely with Basswood because of its abilities as a stone of healing. When we learn things by donning the mask, we can use this new information to heal our wounds, known or unknown. Amethyst is also used to help stave off addictions, which makes it a perfect stone to have when utilizing the mask's abilities. Allow yourself to ground and purify yourself with Amethyst by carrying a piece of it with you always.

Oracle Readings Received: Psychic DJ Oracle (Jul 9 2015)

What's next?
Tinie Tempah ft Eric Turner's"Written in the stars"

Oracle Readings Received: Soul Clarity Card Draw (July 1 2015)

Hi Emma!
Your card is:
Let go – You don’t need to hang on. Just release and be free.
Hugs!

Oracle Readings Received: One Card Draw (Jun 22 2015)

Your card :: Princess of Staves [reversed]

The Princess of Staves, in a reversed position, is cautioning a need for focus. Your energies are scattered all over the place right now, and that accomplishes nothing toward fulfilling your goals. Take a step back from the cacophony around you, retreat into a safe space where you can regroup and get control of your thoughts and feelings. Once you can relax in your skin and your mind, you can see the bigger picture again and get back on track.

Pimp It! card :: Ace of Swords

Dovetailing nicely with the previous card, Ace of Swords points toward clarity and the good judgment that will allow you to achieve your goals. Seek advice from those you trust, but ultimately it will be your own innate wisdom that will help you resolve the issues that are plaguing you right now.

Oracle Readings Received: Psychic DJ Oracle (June 15 2015)

Question: "What's next?"
Answer: Imagine Dragons's "Fallen"

Oracle Readings Received: Soul Clarity Card Draw (June 1 2015)

Hi Emma!
Your card is:
Ask for help – We all want to support you. But first, you have to be brave enough to ask.
Hugs!

Oracle Readings Received: Psychic DJ Oracle (May 24 2015)

What's next?
Pandoracle says, Nirvana's "In Bloom"

Oracle Readings Received: Soul Clarity Card Draw (May 1 2015)

Hi Emma!
Your card is:
Play often – It’s okay to have some fun. Be silly. Twirl around. Act goofy.
Hugs!

Oracle Readings Received: One Card Draw (April 6 2015)

from alexseanchai's One Card Draw

You get three cards because one leaped out of the deck while I was shuffling! The card that insisted on being heard is the Son of Swords, reversed; the others are the Magician, turned left, and the Four of Cups, turned left.

Upright, the Son of Swords is a very discouraging card: you know all those people who think short-term and competitively and don't consider the consequences? That's the Son upright. Reversed, however, he knows to consider the long-term, to value others as much as himself, and to prize art as strongly as science and emotion as strongly as reason.

The Magician is an actor, in the sense of one who takes action. She gets things done—when she's upright. Turned left, something is in her way, often a lack of confidence. The Four of Cups, turned left, suggests what that something is: she's caught up in past disappointments instead of reflecting on the present and the desired future.

Your bonus card is the Priestess of Wands, turned right. The card depicts the Priestess and the rain and rainbow she just brought about. Turned right, she has an intense focus on what she needs to do in order to accomplish what she needs, or is needed, to accomplish.

Oracle Readings Received: One Card Rune Draw (March 20 2015)

from ariestess's March 2015 One Card Draw

Your rune :: Tiwaz [reversed]

It would appear that your creativity is at a standstill. The pathways are blocked and need to be cleared so that you can return to your normal creative ways. Take the opportunity of the season's stereotypical cleaning phase to help clean up the cobwebs and detritus clogging your mental pathways.

Pimp It! rune :: Wunjo

A direct result of the cleaning of the previous rune will be a sense of renewal and fellowship with those around you. They may or may not be doing the same spring cleaning, but the desire to interact with those around you will be stronger. Don't fight that feeling.

Refer It! rune #1 :: Jera

Another positive result of both the internal spring cleaning and the socialization is a sense of prosperity in one's life. This prosperity can be material or otherwise, but that doesn't matter. The well-being that comes from this sense of achievement can go far to helping you accomplish your goals.

Refer It! rune #2 :: Raidho

On the heels of all of these previous runes, you will find yourself rewarded in a way you may not have expected. Have a bag packed and ready, because you'll be traveling soon. It may not happen until later in the spring, or even summer or fall, but it will definitely happen before the doldrums of winter kick in.

Oracle Readings Received: Psychic DJ Oracle (Mar 7 2015)

Question: What do I need to know?

Pandoracle says: Neon Trees's "Animal"

Oracle Readings Received: Psychic DJ Oracle (Feb 28 2015)

Question: What's Next?

Pandoracle says, Taylor Swift's Blank Space.
She said she interpreted it as us getting some much needed breathing space.

Common House Residents Journal #15: 2015-02-14

Entry #: 15
Journal Type: outworld
Date: 2015-02-14
Replies: yes
Author: Maureen
Trigger Warnings: language, food/health issues

Some jerk on the bus this morning was eating a peanut butter bagel. The smell of most peanut butters makes us nauseous bodily (we aren't allergic bodily that we know of, but that's been a known vertigo trigger since the body was probably 7). For some of us, like me, the dizziness is worse than others (inworld I am actually allergic to peanut butter among many other food allergies).

It's supposed to snow again tomorrow. Apparently we're supposed to get thunder snow in the wee hours of the morning tonight/tomorrow. Carlos, Cecil and I might set an alarm to watch that.

Tomorrow I might mess around with our hairchalk and see if I can do my faux undercut hairstyle better with elastics since the bobby pin method doesn't hold very well.

Also going to do a lot of writing and catching up on online classes. Hopefully the power won't go out.

(x-posted from Plurality Resource Forum)

Common House Residents Journal #14: 2015-02-10

Entry #: 14
Journal Type: outworld
Date: 2015-02-10
Replies: yes
Author: Maureen
Trigger Warnings: none

It's been a week. All this snow is annoying. We don't usually read the news, but this is definitely the hilarious thing of the day Break-up Letter to Snow from the City of Boston. (Also totally my sense of humor.)

Tomorrow we're stopping by the bank to deposit money so we can order our early birthday present from fiancé: tickets to the Welcome to Night Vale Live Show when it comes to Boston. It gives me all the more reason to finish updating my cosplay of myself around our actual birthday. I think we're also going to see if we can pick up the rest of the pieces to make a few other Night Vale cosplays around then (bonus if they can also double as actual clothes). I might also put our gift certificate to David's Tea in our purse. Maybe I'll go get a cup of tea while we're downtown.

I'm also poking at different online things. Hoping I can figure out what to do about money. Not sure what exactly we're going to tell KR (our MRC counselor) tomorrow. But we're doing what we need even though there's a pretty big learning curve right now for the three things we want to do.

I got 1.5 weeks of one of the MOOCs we're studying done this morning. Hoping I can do another 1.5 -2.0 done tomorrow.

Also might have to restart the artist's way again (we are so behind on it might just want to do a re-do again I'll figure it out tomorrow. It is the end of mercury retrograde after all. Also this E-squared book Carlos adores is actually kind of fun. The first experiment only gave us small blessings (admittedly we were in a bad mood so that could be why), but the second experiment has been somewhat successful: I spotted 6 sunset-beige cars today. Tomorrow I have to keep an eye out for yellow butterflies. (I'm using the 48 hour rule loosely because the snow has thrown off all the local timing; we're doing things on more like a 72 hour cycle).

(x-posted from Plurality Resource Forum)

[FICTION] IF I STAY BY GAYLE FORMAN

If I Stay by Gayle Forman is a YA novel about having to make the ultimate choice after tragedy.

After a tragic car accident, Mia spends one day in an out-of-body experience telling her story through flashbacks to her past as she considers the choice she has to make: if she stays.

While it’s marketed a bit to Twilight fans on the cover, that’s not the impression I find fits with it. Looking at the other books inside the cover that are marketed as “other books you may like” to me the one that this fits best along with is Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer, which is one of my favorite YA novels of all time because it grapples with identity, hope, family, and difficult situations.

I enjoyed this book because the pacing is well-done and I have a weakspot for flashback fiction, but what I like in this book, is the fact that between the flashbacks and the narration, there is the underlying theme of family of choice: that family doesn’t have to be your immediate family and it can include friends and other loved ones as well. The other thing that drew me was the role music plays throughout the storyline’s flashbacks from Mia’s passion for cello to different aspects of her life where music is central to her family and her relationships.

NaBloPoMo January 2015 Day 5: Worst Habit

Monday, January 5, 2015
Tell us about your worst habit? 

Four letter word: can't.

I have a tendency to be very negative a lot of the time. I'll argue or be contrary or complain a lot of the time.

NaBloPoMo Day 4: HoneLife Vulnerability Challenge: I Resolve

Over on HoneLife, I'm participating in their Vulnerability Challenge and keeping toward the original goal of doing it all in video form.

Hi I'm Emma. In 2015, I will continue to be great at my daily self-reiki practice and I will become even better at staying positive.

NaBloPoMo January 2015 Day 3: Free Write: Adapting the Artist's Way

One of my new year's goals is to finally finish The Complete Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, but I've adapted it to cope with my health and mental health issues that make it very difficult to practice on Cameron's terms.  We've been sick since we've started so it's been hard even doing the adapted version we compiled, but it doesn't feel as overwhelming to look at with the adaptation.

Here's some of the things weve changed:

1. Morning Pages -> can be written any time, do not have to be 750 words/3 pages, just need to make it a habit to write something. We're aiming for 50-100 words per session, but it's okay if there's less.

2. Weekly tasks + check ins:  lack of detail in stories is fine as long as we have a "focal description" that triggers that particular story, list tasks can be arbitrarily shortened, try to do at least 3 tasks, can always do tasks another week if necessary

3. Reading Deprivation Week is modified to allow reading for classes & above tasks but each pleasure read from the mission 101 list and/or our reading pile has to be matched with 100 words or some other creative thing somewhere

4. Artist Dates and Weekly Walks do not have to be done outside of errands, weekly walk can be shorter than 20 minutes

NaBloPoMo January 2015: Day 2: Keeping Resolutions

Friday, January 2, 2015: Do you actually keep your resolutions? Tell us about a time when you were particularly successful. 

Usually, I think the response is probably "Not Exactly". I usually keep to the spirit more than the letter of resolutions. I haven't had a particularly successful year that I can remember in the recent past other than the fact that I have in the past two years somehow managed to meet my Inking It Out writing pledges in spite of giving up on tracking the wordcounts each month due to constantly running into low spoons.

NaBloPoMo Jan 2015 Day 1: Resolutions

Thursday,  January 1, 2015: What are your resolutions for the new year? Tell us how you picked them.

Be more confident
Be more positive
A total of 100k words broken up into: 25k original fiction,  25k fanfiction predominantly in Ace Attorney longfics, 25k NaBloPoMo/modified morning pages, 25k reviews
Finish adapted version of The Complete Artist's Way
 Videoblog on personal account
Videoblog on plurality account
Get and keep a job for 3 months
Letter Month 21 letters/postcards in February
Finish Pre-CPS training
Finish Pathways to Recovery workbook
Finish Goddess Girl book
Finish Mission 101 list

Being more confident is a resolution because thats the word we chose to define 2015.
Being more positive was a suggestion from my fiance.
100k words is the grand total for both our pledges in Get Your Words Out and Inking It Out
Finishing the adapted version of The Complete Artist's Way is a personal goal modified with tricks from another Cameron book that translated fairly well toward low spoons
Videoblogging on both accounts is a personal goal because I want to get more comfortable in front of a webcam
Getting and keeping a job for 3 months is a personal goal for development reasons
Letter Month 21 letters/postcards in February - I try this every year and want to try again
Pre-CPS training - precursor retirement for one of my 5 year plans
Finish Pathways to Recovery - same reason as above
Finish Goddess Girl - an overdue giveaway review book
Finish Mission 101 list - this has a deadline before the end of the year, so it's a thing

Oracle Readings Received: Jodi Chapman's Soul Clarity Card Draw (Jan 1st 2015)

from Jodi Chapman's Soul Clarity Message Card Draw

Hi Emma!
Your card is:
Slow down – When we hurry, we miss so much. Take time, look around, and see the beauty.
Hugs!