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

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)

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.

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.

Readings on All Hallows Eve

So pleased to be reading The Playing Card Oracles this coming holiday weekend at both Ten Thousand Waves Spa and Resort here in Santa Fe and also the Mayor's Ball.
Have been busy preparing my "costume" i.e., repairing my old gypsy attire, adding an incredible gypsy headpiece I found in Albuquerque (at Old World Imports) and a new spiffy cloth for the card reading table.
If you can make it to Ten Thousand Waves, I'll be there from 1:00 to 4:00 on Saturday the 31st (the readings will be complementary!) and if you are already planning to attend the Mayor's Ball, look for me there!
Otherwise, I'll be at Annapurna World Vegetarian Cafe, as usual, Friday afternoon from noon to 2:30.

Ana Cortez Newsletter

Excerpt from the Ana Cortez June 2009 Newsletter

The Five of Hearts

Choosing the card for the subject of The Ana Cortez Newsletter has become part of my practice of listening to the world and receiving its messages. Finding the perfection in that which is given provides me a great feeling of peace. Last month’s selection, the King of Spades, was not chosen by me, but rather brought to my attention – likewise with this month’s choice, The Five of Hearts. This is a card I have personally grappled with since the beginning of my time as a reader of playing cards, ‘round about 1982. This undoubtedly corresponds to the complexity and layers of dream like experience this card represents. (To read the remainder of this article please email me at ana@anacortez.org and I will reply with the full newsletter attached) Image © C.J. Freeman, The Playing Card Oracles