[thorhammer]

Ah, geez, I hope your dad comes up good. Take care of your family, we're not going anywhere.

\m/ Kat

[Wendywu]

Stay strong Satori - you, your Dad and Lou will all be in my prayers...

[Satori]

I slept in my own bed last night!
So Dad is fine. Thanks for all the caring notes, I truly appreciate it. Hospice said that for now they feel that Lou is strong enough and doing well enough to be on her own overnight! Which surprised me. But I'm thankful because I had a rotten night and the smell of smoke was overwhelming. They don't know what is up with my Dad, so we need some follow up appts.

Looks like the Sirens stepped up and took in our beloved straggler Shamoness. My thanks and apologies for jumping in and out of the situation so quickly. Glad to see that our Sirens were there and prepared to roll out the infamous Oosian red carpet.

Can someone from each group check in here and let me know how things are going in your respective groups? We have two weeks to get our stuff to our partners, so that means we have until:

March 21!!! Yeah, isn't that the Equinox?

Once everyone has their packages we can begin a reading practice. Do people just want to read for those in their groups or get redistributed for a new reading practice, round robin style?

[Satori]

Fixed Point Method:

I lay down an item that has radiating arms or some kind of significance and can perhaps cut the cloth into zones. I have a seashell that is a type of carrier shell that has radiating arms. I drop items and watch to see if the items fall into the zones created by the arms. I sort of imagine the legs of the shell continuing past where they actually end so that zone is extended, but the items closer to the shell carry a stronger message.

Each zone is predetermined but changes with each reading depending on the situation.

If things roll off the cloth they aren't read. Not every item on the cloth has to be read, sometimes you just aren't sure what the item means or another area of items carries a strong enough message that your question is answered.

You don't have to use something that has arms or creates zones. But you can make an arrangement of sticks. More to come on Sticks!

[Satori]

Sticks and Bones Reading:

If you have a certain kind of wood that is meaningful, like Rowan, Beech and so forth collect sticks of that type, or collect an assortment. Add in your long bones, chicken bones, turkey bones or wishbones. (The Wishbone is it's own reading. Make a wish, choose your objects ahead of time from your loot. Toss them on your mat. Whatever lands inside of the wishbone opening is your answer.)

Create a pattern that is appealing to your personal sense of style, but the Pentagram can be created and the zones assigned with meanings. If you have a piece of parchment you can glue the sticks to it and keep it in a special place for use.

If you have loose sticks you can also see if the pattern is disturbed when you cast the objects and read meaning into that. Or you can lay the sticks loosely out and let the objects dictate the pattern of the sticks when you cast.

[Milfoil]

Originally Posted by Satori

Can someone from each group check in here and let me know how things are going in your respective groups? We have two weeks to get our stuff to our partners, so that means we have until:

March 21!!! Yeah, isn't that the Equinox?

Once everyone has their packages we can begin a reading practice. Do people just want to read for those in their groups or get redistributed for a new reading practice, round robin style?

2 weeks may not be enough. It has taken over 6 weeks, in the past, for some packages to make it over to other continents so perhaps we can give a little lee-way with timings.

Things usually arrive when they are meant to . . .

As to reading, perhaps we can leave that up to individuals? Group readings may be a nice way to start and we could go from there???

[Satori]

I let people see all the toys in my toy oracle. I let them choose between 5, 7 or 9 of the items. I always use an odd number. I think it makes more sense somehow.

Once they've chose the toys that gives me a pre-reading on the person and the query. So that is the first part of your reading, and you don't necessarily need the throw, but if you do the throw, do it to clear up any questions about that set of objects, or to look deeper into what you learned from the set.

Sometimes I choose an object or two and add it in to create a sort of friction point or to show me the way of things.

I like to lay out five or six crystal points as zones and then toss the objects onto the mat. I've also had the person lay out a set of tumbled stones into a design and then throw the objects onto that.

Color therapy: If you have lots of tumbled stones of different colors and the sitter has chosen the grid look at the grid and determine the color meanings and stone meanings. Are they heavy on a type of stone or color?

You get the idea!

[Cat*]

Originally Posted by Satori

Can someone from each group check in here and let me know how things are going in your respective groups? We have two weeks to get our stuff to our partners, so that means we have until:

March 21!!! Yeah, isn't that the Equinox?

Here's another request for clarification : I assumed that March 21 was the latest date to mail out our packages, not receive them. Did I mis-assume?

Because I agree with Milfoil:

Originally Posted by Milfoil

2 weeks may not be enough. It has taken over 6 weeks, in the past, for some packages to make it over to other continents so perhaps we can give a little lee-way with timings.

Things usually arrive when they are meant to . . .

The Drummer Girls have participants in the USA, Australia and two different European countires, so it's highly unlikely that our packages will arrive by March 21, even IF we all send them by next Monday...

Personally, I'm fine with drawing out this nice experience a bit. The US domestic group will likely be finished sooner than the rest of us, so we can all gather there and watch the unwrapping of surprise goodies and (maybe) the first readings. The rest could follow whenever new packages reach their destinations.

Originally Posted by Satori

Once everyone has their packages we can begin a reading practice. Do people just want to read for those in their groups or get redistributed for a new reading practice, round robin style?

If we are to read for everyone in our group (which would make sense, to see how the oracles work on different people/questions), I would need to make some time for that, too. I'm working full-time outside of the house and need to schedule such things...

I'd also be fine with smaller round-robin reading groups (of maybe 3 people?). Those could be arranged in rough order of packages arriving so nobody would have to wait to try out their new and wonderful oracles.

Oh, and thank you so very much for all the exciting reading suggestions, Satori!

One I thought up myself involves the bag doubling as a reading mat. I thought one could use a round circle of leather or sturdy fabric, make holes along the edge and thread a ribbon through them. Pulled close it makes a bag. Pulled open and laid flat, it makes a throwing mat onto which you could draw/stitch a grid that makes sense to you (e.g. four parts for the four elements/directions; two parts for positive/negative; whatever system seems suitable).
(I saw that Elven has made such a bag (minus the grid) in one of the earlier threads that have been linked here recently. I swear I got my idea before I saw that picture - great minds and such... )

I think I may go and try out the by-product of this exchange (my brand-new Trashy Pop Culture Oracle) soon...

[Satori]

Yes the March 21 date is to mail out by. There is no rush on the mailing out part.

When the kits arrive I figure people will need time to sift through the items and while all the items will be appreciated, not all the items will be loved equally. Some may not want to stay in that oracle. They may want to be moved into another oracle. Not all the themes will work either, we may suddenly look at the collections and have a creative flash of insight.

I think that there is really no rush for any of the readings either. We all have our groups and the main thread, and we can post here ad infinitum.

Personally I'm having a blast trying to find things for my group. We had a fire last night and I found something for Mi-Shell out there! Which is a good thing, because for some reason she is turning out to be a challenge.

Glad you liked the ideas for the casting. One more tip for choosing a casting cloth. I love to look at the placements at kitchen stores. Pier 1, Burlington Coat Factory, and also Sears have some nice and rather inexpensive mats. Right now at Burlington Coat Factory there are some nice ecru mats that you can mark up any way you want. I saw some checkerboard mats, some round ones too. For the money, most were $1.99, you can't beat it.

[rhombchick]

Hey that's a good idea, getting a fabric with a pattern already on it, like big squares or big circles... hmmm