Animal Medicine
These have been in my life for a while. You may have seen them. They are a deck of cards, each bearing a different animal. There is a guide book written by Jamie Sams and David Carson, and they are beautifully illustrated by Angela C. Werneke. I hope to meet the illustrator while I'm still in New Mexico, but it hasn't happened yet. It is all very Native American, and since I have a brew of that blood flowing through me I feel a bit of affinity to some of that approach to life.

This was the latest spread I did for myself. I wasn't sure if I had shuffled the cards adequately, and held them in my hands for a long while. I finally turned over the first card and it was Coyote, so I knew I had gotten it right. So the spread went like this: East -Coyote, South - Hummingbird, West - Porcupine, North - Deer, Center - Bat.

There are somewhat complicated levels of meaning, but it is all quite positive, and seems to relate well to my work at the moment. Coyote is always my card, Hummingbird indicates joy to follow. The Porcupine indicates innocence, and seeing the world through child-like eyes. The Deer is similar, solving problems by a gentle approach. The Bat indicates rebirth, and hopefully means that the struggles I've been going through are over and I've learned all of the lessons they have to teach.