SACRED ORACLE

Help! I'm Dreaming!

Here I am in Santa Fe, in my lovely casa fria. Hardly anything has gotten done around here. You see, I'm helpless in the grip of a new card reading - a combination between a "game" and a reading given in a dream on Thanksgiving morning.

Still within it's hazy grasp, I woke from the dream and grabbed my deck of cards from the bedside table - laying out cards in formation on the sheets. It was a gigantic spread (36 cards) and I knew if I did not lay them out then and there the game would be lost. I lay back down after a time (it was a holiday after all!), closed my eyes and re-entered the feeling of the dream. Forgotten nuances tippy toed back into my conscious mind. Still there were holes - questions regarding the spread. It seemed I was given the most important points and the rest was for me to piece together, like a puzzle with multiple layers.

It's been a week now, and cards swirl 'round in my head on a daily basis. No, this is not unusual for me, but it has turned from a manageable flurry to a down-right blizzard. "Oh well!" said Alice (or is my name Ana?), "The world can wait. After all, it is cold outside and I like my house good and messy."

The layout can be seen on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcJlq2g8vdY

ANCIENT ALIENS IN EGYPT

Ancient Egypt is synonymous with cats. The great Sphinx is depicted as a hybrid being: part cat, part human. Cats were revered as sacred. Cat-like eyes appear in the depictions of people. But does this point to more than a fetish for these furry felines? Could this be a clue into the nature of aliens in Egyptian history?

In answering this question it is interesting to note that Egyptians were particularly interested in the astronomy of the star Sirius. Multiple signs of this have been discovered, including perfect astronomical alignments of pyramid features to Sirius.

Now we come to a connection. Numerous people who claim to have been visited by Sirians (including Astarte!) have described them as cat-like. Photos depicting visitations appear with mysterious, misty cat features.

This begs the question: Could Sirian beings have visited Egypt? Is it possible they even mixed with the Egyptian race to produce hybrid DNA? Certainly humans possessing cat features might suggest this and may have been a pictorial clue left for us by Egyptians in their relics.

Were the rulers of Egypt super human by virtue of their supernatural DNA? Did they possess special knowledge and powers bestowed on them by their mixing with the Sirian race?????

Many cultures have written of their "Gods" from the sky having divine "relations" with human women to produce offspring with special abilities. Could these be more than myths? Is it a coincidence that modern day accounts of mysterious pregnancies purportedly associated with extra-terrestrial encounters abound as well? Is this the same phenomenon? Are extra-terrestrials inserting their DNA purposely into the human race?

When discussing this connection between the Sirians and Egyptians over the telephone with my good friend Astarte, we simultaneously (as it often happens for us) received multiple waves of very strong "downloads." Very exciting!!! I have come to understand these waves of spine-tingling energy as my guides in spirit shouting "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

The supernatural exists amoung us. It is a reality, not a fantasy. I believe we all possess abilities beyond what our "rational" minds allow us to think. Is it possible there is a little supernatural DNA that has been mixed in and passed down to all of us, just waiting for activation? And just what would it take to activate it?

That, dear reader, I will leave to your very own fantastic imagination.....

NEW PREDICTIONS

I have been given two predictions I am going to share with you. Both were given in dream state, which is where I receive much of my information and assistance.

Number one, I was shown the 4 of Spades. Suddenly, my ordinary dream was interrupted and I was shown a deck of cards. The hands holding them jerked and a small number of cards fell from the deck. I know from experience how powerful it is when cards are given like this. You don't ask, and yet there they are. Quickly I scrambled to see the cards that fell and they only allowed me to see one: the 4 of Spades.

Speaking in cards is as comfortable to me as speaking English so this was a strong message indeed: however, cards are a cheshire game. Always there is room for interpretation or intuition to fill in space. In this instance, this card is a message of a rough ride ahead, a powerful influx of energies that will either shatter you or make you more powerful. Beware of the old luxuries of idle directing of thoughts, negativity, or otherwise mis-managing your energy. The 4 of Spades calls for all your resources, and all your karma to be reconciled.

According to recent government data, three very large solar flares occurred consecutively, on the 4th, 5th and 6th of this month (November 2010). Be prepared to notice your issues presenting themselves in 3D! This is all for clearing, as massive amounts of energy are raising the frequencies and the old, low frequency garbage will be coming up so we can release it. GIVE THANKS AND LET IT GO!!! Breathe it all out!!!! Trust in the intelligence of the universe. Also interesting that the prophecies came in the wee hours between the 5th and the 6th.

I mentioned I was given two prophecies. The other was the date of May 5th (5/5 - the number of change). This is interesting and also connected with the 4 of Spades. They showed me the card and the date were basically so much the same that in the dream I could not differentiate between the date and the card. I say interesting because last year I was given the date of May 5th (!) and it turned out to be a biggie. I did a reading for it as the date was approaching and they showed me fire and banks. That was the day of the riots in Greece over the economy where the rioters actually burned down a bank. How more "right on" can you get? Also that day there was a massive solar flare (also a fire element occurrence) surpassing all solar flare activity for several months time. Solar flares are all about amping up energy voltages here on earth, big energy influxes that create lots of 4 of Spades type experiences.

So hold on and get ready for riding that bucking bronco of big shift - and don't say I didn't tell you so!.

TRUSTING INTUITION

I am learning to approach life as a listening exercise. It is my continuing practice to "tune in" to all that is in and around me, just receiving. I want to honor the intelligence of the present moment, and lean less and less on the "logic" of the thinking and planning "me" that has held tyranny over my existence for lifetime upon lifetime.
Now I am here.
This morning brought an incident that confirmed so beautifully the wisdom in trusting instinct over logic.
Here's how it went.
I found myself at the gas station, as I have been planning to do this for a while since returning from a lengthy drive. Knowing my car as I do, I also knew that my oil would be low after my trip and had been planning to get both gas and oil in one efficient Phillips 66 swoop.
The morning was gorgeous. The temperature perfect and the sun shining. There was almost no one else at the station.
I got the pump going and sat back in my car, thinking about the oil. I needed to go inside the station to get it. Hmmm....
I didn't feel like it. I couldn't exactly explain it. "Tuning in" as I do, sometimes I will not go inside a gas station if I get any inkling of not feeling safe. This was sort of like that, and yet there were no other cars pulled up at the gas station so logic was not giving me any support.
"I should just go in," I told myself. "It's the perfect time to just go buy a can of oil."
I went to get out of my car and felt a subtle but noticeable resistance. I didn't feel like going.
"Okay. I am willing to honor my feeling." I thought to myself. "My car will probably be alright if I get oil sometime later."
I just sat in my car, trying to stay out of my head and just enjoy the experience of the present moment. I surrendered to just watching the numbers flip on the pump.
As I watched the gallon count nearing where I knew the capacity of my tank to be, I heard a new sound. It was the sound of gas pouring on the ground. I jumped out of my car and pulled the nozzle from my tank which was continuing to spout gas even though the tank was full.
Gas was everywhere.
I was finally able to manually shut the gas off and went into the gas station to let them know about the faulty nozzle. I felt fire in my blood but managed to remain kind and calm with the clerk behind the counter.
Driving away I had a realization. Had I not followed my instinct to stay in the car, as illogical as it seemed, I surely would have been inside the gas station when the tank reached full. Who knows how long the gas would have been spouting all over my car and the ground beneath my car.
Wow.
Not always do incidents such as this make sense to my mind so quickly in the aftermath, but it was great to have a good confirmation.

THANK YOU UNIVERSE!!!!

Predictions: George Clooney and Italian Girlfriend

Everyday Oracles - far from ordinary!

Photo by Greg Backlund

"Symbols are oracular forms - mysterious patterns creating vortices in the substances of the invisible world. They are centers of a mighty force, figures pregnant with an awful power, which, when properly fashioned, loose fiery whirlwinds upon the earth."

- Manly P. Hall, Lectures on Ancient Philosophy, p. 356.

So my question to you, dear reader, is what symbols or "oracular forms" are making their way into your world???

DREAMING, ALWAYS DREAMING

Last night I was dreaming. I dreamed I was petting my cat and having a nice visit with the darling I adore so dearly. Then I realized, my cat has passed away - struck by a car just two weeks ago. That I know for certain. I remember burying her in the back yard, her darling little ears filling with dirt as we filled the grave.
But this feels so real!!! The smell of her beautiful fur, the way she stretches out when I pet her. Could this really be a dream? It must be, I reason with myself. As perfect as it all is - indeed, indiscernible from waking reality - the fact remains that my cat has passed away and here she is, coddling my senses in 3-D.
Now I have an opportunity. I KNOW I am dreaming....... ahhhh.... Thank you, Kitty. Suddenly alive in this playground of imagination I pose the question to myself - NOW WHAT????

All possibilities exist here. I can walk into the future, into the past, simply by my wish. "As you say, so it shall be" can be experienced here.

I make a wish. After all, it's my dream, right? But alas, I can feel the resistance of the dream even as I am stating my command. No, this particular wish will not be realized in this dream.

Now I have the question: Why am I able to manifest some of my desires and not others? Could this be the same thing that happens in life? Why are some of my wishes realized and others not?

We are complex creatures, not a unified presence. We have many desires, many interests, and a wide palette of dreams. Some are in alignment, some not - some are a part of our conscious awareness, others prefer to stay submerged in the subconscious. Certain desires require certain amounts of personal power or unification of power in order to manifest. Becoming a successful rock star, for example, requires more personal power than producing a bowl of ice cream. And for some, becoming a rock star is a far simpler task than becoming an accountant.

So again, I return to my dream. Now I have a plan for the next time I find myself awake within this alternate reality, so ripe for experimentation. It helps to have a plan.

HEALING

I AWAKE.
VAULTS AND MORE VAULTS
CORRIDORS AND AN ECHO OF FOOTSTEPS
SECRETS HELD
HEAVY DOORS AND ONE SKELETON KEY.

AND NOW THE RANCID, MUSTY INHALANTS
LONG HELD IN DARK SPACES
PENETRATE MY LUNGS
AND I PARTAKE OF THE POISON.
DUST COVERED CURSES.

I WRETCH AND I SCREAM ALOUD
I WEEP AND I STRIKE OUT
AT PHANTOMS AND FLASHING REFLECTIONS.

TONGUES, COLD AND HARD,
TURN STEAMY AND AGILE
AT THE SOUND OF WHISPERED INCANTATIONS:
ALL THE NUANCES HELD WITHIN ONE TIME-STOPPING BELCH
OF VENOMOUS VAPOR.

THE DEAD CANNOT HIDE
THEIR STORIES
ANYMORE.

- ANA CORTEZ ©

Boost your INTUITION

Passing of Oracle Artist C.J. Freeman

dislike for paint brushes
C.J. Freeman 1941-2010

A quick message to fill in for my recent absence from the blog. My father, Oracle artist C.J. Freeman passed away on June 6th. His passing was sudden although his health had been declining for some time.
He will be missed by many. If ever there was an original, it was my father.
I am handling his affairs which has been quite a task and so my absence from the blog...
My commitment to the work of the ORACLES continues, deepened and strengthened by my father's passing.

To those I love
Be assured when I fly with the angels
I dream of you.

Preparation for 2012 and Your Card Reading Practice.

When speaking about preparation for 2012 I get interesting responses from different people. For some, no preparation is required at all. It is just another trip to the movies. For others, it is about stock piling food and supplies for some kind of apocalyptic scenario. And yet what is at the heart of this looming date?
2012 was calculated by the Mayan and other ancient civilizations and prophets as a time of great shift: The end of an old world and the beginning of a new. Chaos is foretold as familiar societal and planetary structures crumble, giving way to new, higher frequencies.
Whether you believe the prophecies or not, we can at least concede these are strange times, indeed. Global events are accelerating and intensifying as we enter a period of climate change, gigantic solar storms, and societal destabilization. What the new form of things will be as we become acclimatized to this vibratory makeover has yet to be seen and creates a feeling of unrest as we anticipate the unknown. Never before has such a transition as this been seen on our dear planet.
So back to the question of preparation.... And why oh why am I talking about this on a blog dedicated to the infinitely more simple (seemingly!) topic of Card Reading????
As we transition into a time of what Mayan Shamans are referring to as "the Fifth Age," the best and truly only preparation is one of frequency preparation. Once you give yourself the rub-down energetically, you will also be in tune with your own guidance, intuition, and natural, God-given GPS system. You will know what to do and when to do it.
What is your practice for energy alignment? Do you do it every day?
I have a number of my own practices (which I discuss periodically on the Astarte and Inanna Show on youtube), but what I want to talk about now is how to incorporate your Card Reading Practice.
The Playing Cards were created in accordance with natural and powerful energetic codes. The same energetics that the Mayans understood and used to create their calendar and calculate the year 2012.
I plan to make some sort of comparison chart to map this all out, but here are a few of the basics: The Mayan Calendar wheel is based on 52 year cycles and it is on these cycles that the year 2012 was predicted. 52 is the total number of cards in the playing deck and has been for as far back as we can trace it (before Tarot, which was an alteration of the original deck.)
There were 13 months to the Mayan (logical when you remember there are 13 lunar cycles in one solar cycle) and also 13 number Gods or "13 bearers of numbers." Accordingly, there are exactly 13 cards or numbers in each suit of the playing cards (Ace thru King.) 13 cards in each of 4 suits = 52, the same as 13 lunar cycles each of 4 weeks and 4 seasons each of 13 weeks = 52 weeks in the year. Now we begin to understand why the numbers 52, 13, and 4 were sacred.
To the Mayan, the world was conceived as a great square with four directions, four "bearers of the year," or four Gods. The playing deck too, is a "great square," divided evenly into four suits that also correspond to the four directions, the four seasons of the year, and the four elements of nature. The Mayan were Masters of observation and conceived the nature of time as manifold circles, all meshing together perfectly as intricate cogs in some sort of mind-blowing clock.
I am not saying the deck is Mayan. I am not saying it is the same as the Mayan Calendar. It is, however; like the Mayan calendar in that it is a work of art based upon the observation of the natural world and the rhythms within it. And it is this that we must return to.
In the pursuit of true spirituality and our own personal destiny, we must eventually shake the dust off of the knowledge of who we are. Try as we might, we will never be able to make ourselves into what we are not. The only thing awaiting us is The Return.
So this is how the study of your Playing Deck can become a part of your own sacred preparation for the accelerated frequencies making their way to planet Earth. It is a practice in alignment, a sacred study of natural frequency codes that the moon, sun, and seasons must dance to, and so must we. In this practice, we undertake nothing less than the reintegration and healing of our collectively scattered soul, a sacred meditation on crystalline structures put into card form. Now is the Time.
As I mentioned in my related video, hang out with your Playing Cards and look at them as if you've never seen them before - as if you knew they were a book of knowledge, and watch the secrets unfold :-)
P.S. Get the book! What are you waiting for? (The Playing Card Oracles)

2012, Energy Shift, and Your Card Reading Practice

This video is part 1 of 5. The remaining portions can be found in the 52cardmagic channel on youtube.

Kahlil Gibran, The Tides of Breath

You are not enclosed within your bodies,
nor confined to houses or fields.
That which is you dwells above the mountain
and roves with the wind.

It is not a thing that crawls into the sun for warmth
or digs holes into darkness for safety.
But a thing free,
a spirit that envelopes the Earth
and moves in the ether...
This would I have you remember
in remembering me.

That which seems most feeble
and bewildered in you
is the strongest and most determined.

Is it not your breath that has erected and hardened
the structure of your bones?
And is it not a dream
which none of you remember having dreamt,
that builded your city and fashioned
all there is in it?

Could you but see the tides of breath
you would cease to see all else,
and if you could hear the whispering of the dream
you would hear no other sound.

- Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

One of my favorite quotes of all time... it is works like this that inspire me to write, when I feel the power of words to send me like this. Maybe I love this poem so dearly because I am a Gemini, an Air sign. That being what it is, I am also strongly aligned with the Club suit in the deck of cards, the suit symbolizing Air. I used this quote from Gibran in my introduction to the Club suit in The Playing Card Oracles, because I feel it so aptly and eloquently describes the spirit of these cards. In these trying times, most especially, how valuable it is to recall our eternal nature, our oneness with "the ethers..."
If you would like more information on the Elements and the Card Suits, see my youtube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7rOxWYAIHc
All blessings,
--Ana

HEALING.... THE FUTURE OF CARD READING

Increasingly I am finding the Oracle Readings to be beyond what I ever originally fathomed them to be. I mean, I always knew it was cool to be able to "read" people and see that the cards actually did "work", also that maybe glimpsing into the future would somehow help people. Somehow in seeing what they were creating in their life they would see that they also had choices.
Now I am seeing something more. Something beyond what I saw before.
Lately, I have been finding the readings more and more transformative, in the sense of events actually SHIFTING for people after their reading, and I believe this is due to the way I have shifted the way I look at the cards in a reading.
And here it is.

I no longer look at the cards as "good" and "bad." In other words, the old "this forebodes a good outcome and this is a bad."
I have shifted to looking at all the cards as a gift - meaning all the circumstances in a person's life are PERFECT for them at that moment and it is the way they are viewing the circumstances given that is helping or hindering them. No more good cards, bad cards. No more good life, bad life.
This is very big.
EACH CARD HAS A GIFT TO BRING, just the same as each life circumstance. Each layout or circumstance has a unique set of energies with equally unique opportunities.
Are you really swallowing this?
Some cards have more obvious gifts than others, but that is my job as the reader.... to find the OPPORTUNITY in the card layout, the POSITIVE course of action given the ENERGIES at play in that person's life. The energies are what they are (for the moment, anyway). It is the perception where personal power enters in.
Once I give PERMISSION for the person to be experiencing what they are experiencing, patterns of distress are released and situations shift of their own. The situation has been freed.

This is a way of looking at life that I have found for myself, that is now translating into my readings: Acceptance and Gratitude for WHAT IS. My opportunities are here, they are now.
The results of such a way of looking at life is translating into tangible and happy results for my clients - as it has for myself.
Although there is no way to follow up with everyone, the people I have followed up with express that often the very next day after a reading something profound shows up within the situation they were consulting me about. Often a real bone-cracker but sometimes just a feeling like, oh... that's not a problem anymore!!!! Why did I need that reading so bad?!!!
For the people I have not had the blessing of following up with, it is a knowing. I KNOW the readings are a force for shift. I feel it. I feel the person's situation shifting in ME as I am doing the reading. The new standard is the reading is not complete until I feel this shift.
Now wrap your head around this: What I am now starting to grasp is that even once a reading is scheduled the shift begins happening. Simply in anticipation of the reading (premonition?), by the time the appointment time comes the pressure has already been released from the situation.

Open your mind to a reading as a healing. Why should it be anything less?????
It is real. It is the future of card reading.

PLAYING CARD ORACLE LESSONS NOW ONLINE!

It has long been my dream to bring The Playing Card Oracles to more and more people, in a very practical sense. I would love to see The Playing Cards recognized and being USED by people everywhere in the way they were originally intended. This is the return to our personal power through our alignment with the natural and powerful rhythms of Creation.
SO.....
This is the plan....
Videos will be posted on youtube and accessible through the video bar on this site under the user account 52cardmagic. My goal is to post a new video once a week. The first teaching video is there now, in 3 parts, called Card Reading Mastery. This is what you are learning as you master the playing deck. It will include things from the book, The Playing Card Oracles, although it will include things that are not in the book, as well.
ALSO.....
I AM AVAILABLE FOR PRIVATE, ONLINE INSTRUCTION. This is through SKYPE or via email. Please email me at ana@anacortez.org for appointments and rates.
Thank you especially to all the very devoted fans of The Playing Card Oracles over these years since the book was published. Your support has kept me going.
Love,
-- Ana

Asking the Question, part 2

"...When people want to know if they can ask a general question, I ask if they want a general answer. Like begets like with the cards. Similarly, it is interesting to notice where the person's inquiry is coming from. Is it from their gut or their head? A burning question is a world away from one asked out of mild curiosity. Surface questions get surface answers. Real questions invite the cards to speak."
(from The Playing Card Oracles, A Source Book for Divination, p. 109)

Asking the Question, part 1

This is the beginning of a short series quoted from my book, The Playing Card Oracles, A Source Book for Divination. The information could as easily be applied to any type of divination: Tarot, Playing Cards, I Ching, Runes, etc... I take a breath, open the book, and give to you, dear reader, this passage for today:

(From the sub-chapter, Asking the Question, p.109) "...One of the best ways to be of service (with the cards) is to help people phrase their concerns in a way that works in harmony with the nature of the cards. The Playing Deck, and oracles in general, function with profound, childlike simplicity and will reflect the inquiry in just such a manner. Complicated or ambiguously stated questions do not evoke the magic of the cards. Make sure the wording you choose is clear, simple, and direct, and the answer you receive will be the same. Beware of two-part questions disguised as a single inquiry. Break multi-faceted concerns down into components in order to get a clear response. If you're doing smaller readings, it's better to do separate layouts for each aspect of the question than to glob issues together." (to be continued next week..)

--Ana Cortez, The Playing Card Oracles - Painting by Remedios Varo

Your Personal Edge

If I am to truly become master of myself, I must know my limits. That is to say, when do I push myself and when do I draw back - in other words, "HOW DO I EXPAND?"
As a rule, we do not know our own limits because ordinary life rarely calls us to the edge. Those who live on the edge are exceptional. Olympic athletes are one example of people who we can see have gone to their personal edge, to the lonely nether land of what is actually possible in a human being.
For myself, these visits to my own outer limits are, as a rule, uncomfortable. Often they have been instigated by events that seemed traumatic or beyond my control. During moments of extreme "edge walking" I have even wondered if I would survive the journey.
In this place we either triumph big time or we are eaten alive.
Here I cannot help but reminisce on the recent events around famed spiritual leader James Ray, who encouraged people to challenge their limits only to lose three people in fatality. How much is too much? And yet we MUST challenge ourselves - while remaining sensitive to our own well being.

I like to do an hour and a half of yoga once a week in a hot as hell room to challenge my comfort zone and get that big time pay off. But once a week is generally enough for me and I know that. I have even left the room during class when I felt it was too hot for me. The teacher did not like that. Too bad.
The journey of spirit warrior is about becoming SENSITIVE to energy within YOURSELF. This is the same kind of sensitivity that leads to heightened psychic awareness, healing ability and all reaches of possibility. Some type of meditative practice will help you prepare for tuning in to sensitive energies. This is a skill you will be glad to have on the edge.
Finding my own personal limit has now become a way of being for me, a sort of lifestyle. It is not so obvious, like an Olympic athlete, because that is not my area. My areas are my own and yet I look for these edges I am called to find. Then I set off once more, with some measure of kicking and screaming on the inside, yet all the while tuning in to my own well being. It's weird but I am starting to crave these expansive yet uncomfortable experiences. There is no better place to discover who I truly am and that is a very cool pay off.

Present Moment Miraculous

Always a discipline to choose the proper topic for the blog. I like to capture something very close to the present. Something cathartic yet helpful. It is my meditation.
Today I will write as I wrote my latest book, The Teacher Within. That is, staying intimately and fiercely connected to the present moment. From this place of magic where I found room to breath and expand, I write.
A bit like stream of consciousness, only connected.
My dog just farted.
Oops. A little stream of consciousness enters the page!!! Hard to ignore my dog's farts.
Still breathing (amidst the fumes) I trust that I will be called to the appropriate words for my readers and for myself. This is a practice I can take into my daily life - into housework and phone calls - and penetrate the usual surface of life, dipping into depths of present moment miraculous.
This is the same way I approach my Oracle Reading practice and Reconnective Healing practice, as well. The present moment is the place where I am helpful, where my life begins.

Card Reading and Synchronicity

The other day I gave an Oracle Reading that was very illuminating of the expansive nature of the art of divination. I touched on this in my first book (The Playing Card Oracles) in the sub-chapter called The Reflective World (p.181). To quote myself, "We are electric, magnetic, and dynamic beings, and we attract as well as affect our surroundings... The cards are just one part of what I am paying attention to (in a reading)."
In the particular session I am referring to, we came to a point in the reading when the client asked about her Spirit Helpers. As she was verbalizing the question to me (it was a telephone reading) I saw a shadow pass by the window of my house through the curtains. My two dogs started barking. They saw it too. Continuing with the reading, I fanned the Playing Card Oracle deck in front of me, face down, and drew three cards - they all turned up Court Cards (representing people or personalities), a very slim probability. Three Spirit Helpers.
Well the dogs quit barking and there was never any trace of anyone coming past my house - no knock at the door, nothing left outside. Just a confirmation of a spirit for the reading.
When I am doing a reading, I am in a state of receiving information and guidance. This is not limited to the cards on the table. I believe that nothing is random. If I did not embody a firm conviction of this then all kinds of doubt could enter in each time I lay out the cards.
Divination is the sacred art of connecting to all things and receiving that wisdom on behalf of another. I am honored to be a part of that tradition.

"With great humility, presence, humor and a poet's paintbrush- Ana Cortez
invites us into the very intimate life of the Soul. For both beginners and
seasoned travelers alike, 'The Teacher Within' is a delightful and very
creative illumination of the great and beautiful Journey we are each called
to. I found it a joy and a balm."

Rev. Jenni Walker
Interfaith Minister and Spiritual Director

Unstoppable Expansive Nature of Healing

Energy of Reconnective Healing captured with my cell phone camera,
although since the time of this photo
it is appearing in lavendar hue.

So great. I get to experience the healing, the zing, and uplift of transformation every time I meet with a client. Maximum healing sessions for me! Healing is not a solitary experience. True healing is born of love and the nature of love is expansion.
Just like when you give someone a gift from your heart. The giver and the receiver are blessed. Then it is all ripple effect from there, touching people, places, events never imagined and yet perfectly flowing naturally from a true experience of love.
YES!!! A card reading can do all this. Combined with energy healing work (Reconnective Healing is my practice) it is EXPONENTIAL. Zing-a-ding ding!!!
La la la la la la la la la
See you la la later.....

REAL CARD READING MAGIC

In seeking to deepen the connection to my clients, my art, and to the healing I am able to offer, I have come upon a new realization in regard to my work as a card reader, or as I have come to call myself, an Oracle Reader.

As I stated in my book, The Playing Card Oracles, A Source Book for Divination, "without you the cards are meaningless pieces of paper. The magic is in you." It is interesting how many layers I have discovered for myself in this truth.

I have come to see the magic of the reading as the ability to gain access to the secret, sacred parts of a person. The person allows you in - to parts where they have confusion or pain, parts that are private and hidden... sometimes from every other person in their life. As a reader you are given a key.

Tip toeing through kingdoms that cry out for healing and understanding, I traverse. I use my cards as cues on how to approach these delicate areas, and also open myself to any other means or method gained from my own personal challenges in healing as appropriate. The cards are one of my tools. They open a conversation. Without my own healing experience to back them I have nothing to give.

This is incredible for myself as a reader because it means I have the opportunity to step into the shoes of healer in the broadest sense. I am more that just a peek into the future, a psychic predictor of events to come... I am that and much much more. I allow the HEALING of the future. I HEAL the past (yes! that's right!) - all by healing with my client, one-on-one, in the present moment.

WOW.

2010 Predictions are out!!

For my 2010 Predictions see the Home Page (navigate from side bar) or click on http://www.anacortez.com.

NEW BOOK RELEASE, The Teacher Within by Ana Cortez

Just Published!!!! and available now at http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-teacher-within/6241824

Read a review at http://www.saturness.blogspot.com

"...So please dear reader, won't you lend me a hand, and loose those tired thoughts which to you have become like dry land, and allow me to fasten sweet buoys to your heart strings?"
--Ana Cortez, The Teacher Within, Enraptured Ranting and Other Tales