Announcing Connected Life Today

Last updated: December 9, 2022 at 14:58 pm

 Update 9 December 2022 

 

 Posted 3 December 2022 

I have no doubt that regular visitors of Be Brilliant have been wondering what I've been up to lately, so I thought it might be good to write an article about the project that I'm currently working on and am very, very busy with.

I'm in the process of building a Shopify store called Connected Life Today and this webshop (which also has a blog) is the next step in the evolution of my projects under the randythym.com umbrella after Be Brilliant. There are A LOT of people who wonder how I know what I know smiley, and with Connected Life Today (CLT) I take my astronomical knowledge and skill set to the public. You might call it my "IPO" without the listing on the stock exchange. 

I'm currently very busy with designing and building the store and thought it would be nice to blog about the store's progress, so future customers can read back and see how Connected Life Today came to life. It might also be interesting for people who want to look into opening their own Shopify store after they've seen my store on connectedlife.today.

First and foremost, I have to say that Shopify is an amazing SaaS (software-as-a Service) e-commerce platform with a wealth of information for entrepreneurs. I decided to build a Shopify store because, as you can read in the article I linked to, Shopify takes responsibility for monitoring and ensuring site security as the service provider. Most importantly and especially when it comes to handling credit card information and payment processing. I use Shopify payments for Connected Life Today, as Shopify Payments is PCI compliant and supports 3D Secure checkouts. 

I registered the domain name connectedlife.today on October 27th, 2022 and made a YouTube channel for the store on October 29th, 2022. Shopify handles the store's online security but I also registered my shop at TrustedSite.com as they actively monitor websites for security issues as well. You can check the results of the latest scan on the connectedlife.today certification page at trustedsite.com.

TrustedSite.com sends a postcard (that I haven't received yet) to verify the business address which is why that field is still pending.

I am going to register Connected Life Today at the Dutch Chamber of Commerce on December 22nd, 2022 and you can obtain an extract there to review the company's details. The store won't go live until Q1-2023 (..and it might be later) because I'm also going to apply for the Dutch Small Business scheme (KOR) to be exempt from having to charge VAT, which requires processing time at the tax authorities.

The domain name was connected to the store yesterday and the SSL certificate has been activated as well, so as far as domain settings go Connected Life Today is good to go! Yay! 🙂 A special thanks again to Rey at the Shopify Help Center for double-checking the DNS settings.

 

I intend to run Connected Life Today as a global "small neighborhood shop" and due to my availability there is a limit to the number of customers that the store can take on. Just like Be Brilliant I will run it myself from front to back.

Integrity and Privacy are at the core of my business, and as I want to know who my customers are I will not accept anonymous orders or do business with just anyone. Your intentions have to be on the up-and-up and I can smell a troll a mile away so don't even try. Once the store is live you are welcome to browse around, but you MUST book a one-time Intake and Pre-Read session before you can place an order.

Below is a sneak preview of the Featured Services page on connectedlife.today.

I blog about the store's progress on the Connected Life Today blog (..which you will be able to read when the store goes live) and the majority of the text in this article will become the About Page for the store.

Also, just as an fyi, I will not write a post about the Mauna Loa eruption on Be Brilliant because – and pardon my French – I already f-ing SAID in August 2021 that if Humanity doesn't course correct, The Planet will, and Mother Earth-Gaia is coming through loud and clear. If The Planet had a face she would look like this:

Unfortunately this beautiful little statue can only be found on Amazon so I bought it there earlier this year. 

That's it for now with regard to the announcement for Connected Life Today, and I'll finish the article by reminding you to Respect Yourself, Respect Life, and Respect The Planet You Live On.

Tomorrow’s God

Last updated: August 20, 2020 at 0:10 am

This article contains a number of excerpts from Neale Donald Walsh's book 'Tomorrow's God'(2004). It's not necessary for you to believe that the content was delivered by a 'Divine Source' to benefit from it, as Walsch has also said many times about all his 'With God' books.

My advice: Buy the book and read it to find out which parts of the message resonate with you, and use the wisdom that was conveyed for the benefit of Humanity.

———

We need a new God.

I know

No, I'm serious. We need a new God. The old God isn't working anymore.

The old one never worked.

Some people think it did.

They were not looking at the world around them.

They weren't?

Not honestly. Not comprehensively. They were seeing only what they wanted to see. They were not seeing the cruelty and the fighting and the killing that was going on in God's name. They were not seeing the separation and the oppression and the fear and the utter dysfunction. Or worse yet, they were seeing it and they played into it. They used it as a means of controlling the people. In truth, the old God, Yesterday's God, might have made individual lives work here and there – perhaps even many of them – but that God was never able to create a just society or a joyful, harmonious civilization, to say nothing of a peaceful world. And that God can't even do that today

 

Even today with all your powers of instant communication and total connection and advanced comprehension and increased awareness and sophisticated technology and marvelous miracles, you can't produce the simple, humble experience for which humanity has yearned from the beginning of time. You can't produce peace.

I know.

You can't produce lasting joy.

I know.

And the God in whom you believe can't either.

Why? Why? Why can't all the best efforts of humanity and all the help we've begged for, and received, from God produce this result?

Because the God in whom you believe isn't real. The God in whom you believe is made up. It is a God you created out of thin air, having nothing to do with Ultimate Reality.

Well, there's a challenging thought. That's just about the greatest blasphemy.

All great truths begin as blasphemy. The time to challenge your most sacred beliefs is at hand. If you don't challenge your beliefs soon, your beliefs are going to challenge you. This book is meant to be challenging. This book is meant to save the world.

Will it?

That's up to the world.

Why? Why isn't it up to you? If you're God, why isn't it up to you? 

Because my function is not to save the world. My function is to create it. 

And after you create it you don't care what happens?

I care what happens as much as you do.

No, you don't. If you care what happens as much as we do you won't let the world destroy itself.

You mean if I care what happens more than you do. If I care what happens as much as you do, I will let the world destroy itself because that is exactly what you are doing. Since I care only as much as you do, the world in which you live may very well be destroyed. At the very least, life as you know it could be irrevocably altered.

 

And if that's what happens, I will let it happen.

Why? Why won't you do something to stop it?

Because you won't.

We can't and you can. You're God. You can do what humans cannot.

Your statement is inaccurate. I can and YOU can. But I will not, unless you do.

Why not? What kind of God are you?

The best kind there is. The only kind there is. The kind who gives you Free Will and who will never, ever interfere with that.

Not even to save us from ourselves?

If I saved you from yourselves, then you wouldn't BE "yourselves", but only a slave to me. You would not have Free Will. Your will would be free only until you did something that I did not want you to do. Then, I would stop the exercise of your free will and make you do what I want you to do.

Of course you would. If you were half the God that humans think you are, you would stop us from destroying ourselves. You would do what is best for us. You would make us do what is best for us.

By whose assessment, and by who's definition?

What?

"Best" by whose assessment, and "us" by whose definition?

By yours. By your assessment. By your definition. You would define what is meant by the term "us", you would decide what is "best" for us, and then you would make what is "best" happen for all of "us". We depend on you to do this. That's what God is for.

Really? Is that what you think?

[…]

It is the perception of many people on this earth that your job – God's job – is to tell human beings what is best for them. You tell us what is best for us, and then it is up to us to do it, or else. This is a simplified restating of one of humanity's sacred beliefs.

That belief is a fallacy. That is not God's job and that is not God's purpose and that is not God's function. It is the job and purpose of the God that many of you have created in your imaginations, but not of the God who really is. It is the function of Yesterday's God, but not of Tomorrow's God.

[…]

You have asked to know about Tomorrow's God, and Tomorrow's God will have little to do with yesterday's reality. Yet there will be nothing here that you cannot understand, nothing here that you are unable to comprehend. All that will be asked of you is that you open your mind.

How do I do this? That is a psychological trick that I don't know how to "do" on command.

It is not a psychological trick, it is a physiological process that you can do with your body.

I can acquire an open mind through something I do with my body?

Yes. The body and the mind are interlinked and interconnected. They are not separate from one another. Your brain is part of your body. Your mind is not your brain, but you can open your mind using your brain. Every mystical training and spiritual teaching tells you this, each in its own way. Avatars and masters of every tradition have declared it.

What do I have to do?

Simply breathe in the Life that is all around you. Breathe deeply, with the natural rhythm of Life, for an extended period. Sit or lie quietly while you do this.

Oh yes, I've heard of this. In some trainings this is called "breath work".

Yes. Now, as you inhale, feel yourself taking in the energy of Life. After breathing deeply for a while, imagine this energy of Life entering through a portal at the top of your head. Watch with your internal eye as it courses through your body. As you exhale, let it exit through your feet. Do this a number of times. Scan your body with your mind. Now imagine filling your brain with this energy. Feel the oxygen fill your brain, feeding and nourishing the cells there. Feel the cells of your brain expand. Do this intentionally for seven minutes. 

 

You may feel a little light-headed after this. Do not worry about that. You may feel light-headed because you will be light-headed. You have sent the golden-white light of  the energy of life to your brain. You have directed it there intentionally. This lightens your brain cells. You may feel a sense of enlightenment. With that physical feeling may come an increased awareness of Life, of everything around you. Do not be surprised if this occurs. You have openend your mind, exposing it to the gentle breeze of expanded consciousness.

 

Now you may go back and reread what you have just read.

[…]

You seem to be using the word "Life" a lot here. And you have said before, in previous dialogues, that this word is interchangeable for the word "God". Is this what you want humanity to understand at last? Will Tomorrow's God not require us to "believe in God" in the conventional sense, but merely to believe in "Life"?

When you believe in Life, you do believe in God, whether you say it in so many words or not. You can be an atheist or an agnostic or anything in between, and it will not matter to Tomorrow's God. It does not matter today, but tomorrow all of you will know this. Tomorrow every human will understand. And that understanding will be good, because it will eliminate much of the conflict that has resulted from each of you believing in your particular God in your particular way.

 

You have not been able to agree with each other on this topic when you have used the word "God" or "Allah" or "Jehovah", "Brahman" or the many other names that you have given to the Essence and the Being, the All and the Only. Now I suggest that there is another word for God, the meaning of which you may all agree upon. When this word is exchanged for the word "God", everything suddenly becomes simple and clear.

And that word is "Life"?

Yes. "Life" is the one word in your many languages that comes closest to carrying the meaning that some of you are seeking when you use the words "Allah" or "God" or "Brahman", or "Vishnu" or "Shiva", and that you hope describes or can be a container for "the stuff that God is". In one word, LIFE is the "stuff that God is".

 

Life IS. Life is that which IS. It has no shape, no form, no gender. It has no color, no fragrance, no size. It is ALL shapes, all forms, all colors, fragrances and sizes. It is both genders and that which is genderless as well. It is the All, and the Everything, and it is the No Thing from which everything emerges. There is nothing that Life creates that is not Life Itself. All that you see everywhere around you is Life, expressing. Life is everything. It runs in, as, and through everything. YOU are Life, expressing. And Life is You, expressing itself as you. Everybody else is Life, expressing.There is no one, not a single living being, who is not an expression of Life. Even those you consider the worst among you are an expression of Life.

 

None of these statements seem controversial. Not many people would seriously argue with them. The truth of these statements seems obvious on the surface. Now play a little trick on yourself. Play a little game. Exchange the word "Life" for the word "God" and see what happens. Watch your mind go crazy. Make the statement, the exact same statement, as above, but use the word "God" in place of the word "Life" and watch what your mind does with it.

[…]

Yes. Some people would find the first statement perfectly reasonable and the second statement blasphemous.

That is because some of you have been imagining that. God is NOT Life, but rather, that God stands outside of Life, creating Life, but not being it. Yet I tell you this:

The word "Life" and the word "God" are interchangeable. When you understand this, you will understand the basis of the New Spirituality, you will have a one-word definition of Tomorrow's God, and you will have the makings of an almost automatic inner guidance system for living the New Spirituality that can change the collective experience on your planet.

[…]

Right now you are violating your own instincts. Your instincts are telling you that what you are doing to your world and to your very Self is destructive, yet you continue to do these things anyway. And so you are Life, ignoring the message of Life Itself, but you will not be allowed to ignore that message for very long. As I have said, Life will change its form before it will allow any Part of Life to render Life itself dysfunctional. And so you will see individuals who ignore the most important and functional messages of Life changing their form. To put this in your own terms, they will die.

[…]

Humanity's major fallacies about God and about Life make for a deadly litany of error that has created and continues to create to this very moment, a world of deep anger, brutal violence, terrible loss, unrelenting sorrow, and unremitting terror. You think you are being terrorized by other people but in truth you are being terrorized by your beliefs. These are what you must change if you are ever to realize your dream of living in a world of peace, harmony, and happiness. If you wish to sustain life as you know it- if you wish to have something to pass on to your children and to your children's children- you will have to pay serious attention to giving birth to a new set of beliefs, a new human theology, a New Spirituality.

[…]

Your beliefs create your behaviors and, I repeat, that is true whether you believe in what you call "God" or not. For these reasons I have come to you now. For your world waits in silent apprehension, its people living in fear of the next great devastation, the next outbreak of war, the next fast-spreading virus, the next ecological disaster, the next terrorist attack, the next upheaval – as if the struggles of day-to-day survival were not enough.

 

I have come to you in this critical juncture in your species' history to bring you news of Tomorrow's God, of the kind of faith that humanity will create, of the kind of beliefs that humanity will embrace, in its future – and to invite humanity to create that future in the Present Moment of Now.

[…]

If you want this situation to change, if you want to head off the collapse of the entire system that has produced such inequities, you will explore the possibility of bringing a New Spirituality to the planet sooner, rather than later. Because the problem here is spiritual. It is not economic and it is not political. And it certainly is not military. 

 

It has to do with what people believe about each other, about their relationship to each other, about God, and about Life.

 

But you will create critical mass around the idea of changing things, if, and only if, you "get" that not to change things is creating critical mass in another direction – a direction that you may not wish to take.

In other words, we had better change things, or things are going to change for us, in ways that we do not prefer. And when these changes that we do not prefer start to really mount up, we will change. We will change our ideas about Life, if only as a means of survival.

Not "if only". Primarily. Primarily as a means of survival, you will change. If your survival is directly threatened, you will do what you have to do. You will even change your most sacred and long-held beliefs about yourselves, about God, about Life, about everything, if you have to. You will always choose survival, make no mistake about that. You are encoded to do so. This instinct is, as I said earlier, "built-in." Life is functional, adaptable, and sustainable. Always. And if you have to choose just exactly what it is that is going to survive – your species, or the beliefs of your species – you will choose your species and abandon your beliefs.

 

You would abandon those beliefs that are killing you, that are impairing your ability to survive, right now, but the negative effect of most of your damaging beliefs is so insidious, is so slow in showing itself, that you do not recognize them as being damaging.

[…]

You do not need unfriendly aliens to attack you. You are acting as unfriendly aliens with each other, and you are attacking yourselves. You have thrown yourselves into the flames of your own fire. It has been ignited by the basic misunderstanding of humans about God and about Life, fallacies that have placed fear in the mind and hatred in the heart of humanity. 

[…]

When people think they are God, but act insanely, then they have not only forgotten who they are, they have also forgotten who God is. Your opportunity then is to remind them of who and what God is, and see if they want to step into that.

[…]

And just exactly what are we supposed to say?

Love, Say that, in a word, God is Love

And Freedom

In a word, God is Freedom.

And Joy.

In a word, God is Joy.

And Peace.

In a word, God is Peace.

And Unity.

In a word, God is Unity.

 

These are the grandest aspects of God and of Life and when people are being anything other than these things, they have forgotten Who They Are in their grandest version. 

[…]

Members of enlightened societies don't get directions, they set directions. They don't wait for someone else what to tell them what to do, they decide for themselves what they choose to do, based on what they wish to experience.

 

DIY Research: The Science of Spirituality and The Body’s Amazing Ability to Heal Itself

Last updated: March 1, 2022 at 6:24 am

I made this 2-part series earlier this weekend from a number of clips and documentaries I have in my collection. My objective is to shine a bright light on what is now being called (..by some) "the dark night of the globe", and to provide you with inspiration and food for thought for the year ahead. 

I will list all the clip sources below for those of you who wish to explore the subjects that are mentioned further, and as I've said many times before, use your own discernment when you review the material. Only follow-up on what resonates with you and leave the rest.

Part 1

Part 2

 

 Update 1 March 2022 

Additional Recommended Viewing Part 3:

'The True Nature of Reality' – Interview with Darryl Anka, a.k.a. Bashar, by Kristin Gillespie. Also see: Darryl Anka/Bashar at the 17th Annual Conscious Life Expo: The Past, Present and Future are Within You 

 Update 13 February 2022 

Additional Recommended Viewing Part 2:

Enlightenment, by Anthony Chene 

The Art of Effortless Living Part 1, by Jason Gregory

The Art of Effortless Living Part 2, by Jason Gregory

Instantly Raise Your Vibration – The Most Powerful Methods, by Universe Inside You

Reprogram Your DNA and Heal Yourself with Frequency, Vibration & Energy, by Universe Inside You

If you want to find out if working with certain sounds can indeed have a positive effect on your sense of well-being, do a keyword search on YouTube for Nature Sounds, Native American Flute Music, Tibetan Singing Bowls, and 432Hz music. Listen with headphones and close your eyes while you listen, to see how these make you feel. Try different videos and if they do nothing for you, that's absolutely fine. In that case, try different kinds of music.

Something else that you can try to improve your sense of well-being is an Orgone pyramid or an Orgone pendant. If you don't know what Orgone is you'll need to do some research on it first, and below are two websites that you can start with. Please note that I'm not affiliated with these stores, but the information that is provided there can help you to find the best store near you.

https://www.orgone-pyramid.com

Authentic Orgonite Vs Scam Pyramids – How to Differentiate

 Posted on 26 December 2021 

Additional Recommended Viewing Part 1:

The Journey of Purpose – You Are The Eternal Universe

Natural Law: The Real Law of Attraction and How It Applies to Your Life

Clip sources Part 1 in order of appearance:

The Physics of Spirituality – Nassim Haramein with Vishen Lakhiani (2016)

Rupert Sheldrake – The Science Delusion (2013 Banned TED Talk)

The Secret (2006)

What is Qi Gong? Taoist Master explains the power of Qi (2020)

The Science Behind Yoga (2015)

Clip sources Part 2 in order of appearance:

Quantum Communication Part 1 and Part 2 (2009)

I AM (2011)

Nassim Haramein – The Field of Boundless Information (2018)

Drunvalo Melchizedek – Earth, Sky, Heart Workshop 2011, Day 2-Part 1 (2011)

Drunvalo Melchizedek – The importance of being in our heart NOW (2011)

Wendy Kennedy – A 9th dimensional perspective on current events (2021)

DIY Research: The Lost Art of Divination with Oracle & Tarot Cards

Last updated: August 21, 2021 at 16:09 pm

People who are already familiar with divination know that one of the oldest divination texts/tools known to man is the I-Ching, which is usually translated as the Book of Changes (also see: Creation of binary code inspired by 5,000-year-old text). I started studying the I Ching when I was in college (which is forever ago), and it has indeed been an incredible source of wisdom for me personally.

Last August I bought a book about the Rider Waite Smith tarot titled 'Llewellyn's Complete Book of the Rider Waite Smith Tarot', after I watched a tarot reading for my sun sign on YouTube just for fun, but it turned out to be astoundingly accurate. I'd never given any time or attention to tarot as a credible divination tool, which is why I did what I always do when something intrigues me, namely a deep-dive and in-depth study of the subject.

After nearly a year of research into tarot and oracle cards, buying many decks, and doing many readings for myself, I can only confirm that tarot and oracle cards are indeed an incredibly useful tool for meditation and divination. What I also learned is that even people who have worked with them professionally for many decades, can't explain exactly how and why readings often turn out as accurately as they do. Even though tarot cards look quite simple, tarot as a system of divination is incredibly complex, as the symbols carry many layers and meanings. You can get a lot out of it though even if you don't study the symbols in-dept. 

Here's an excerpt from chapter one of Llewellyn's Complete Book of the Rider Waite Smith Tarot (RWS):

The RWS deck is the best-selling tarot deck in the world to date. The RWS deck is referenced in literature and used in all forms of media, including film and television.

If you're asking huh?, in television?, I've never seen it used in television, the answer is yes, you probably have but you just didn't know what you were looking at. Look what shows up after the closing credits in every episode of the tv series Mad Men:

It's the number 19 card of the RWS tarot, titled the Sun. You can look this up yourself if you find a stream of the show online and go straight to the credits.

Excerpt from chapter one of Llewellyn's Complete Book of the Rider Waite Smith (RWS) Tarot, continued:

It (RWS) is often a beginning readers' first deck. History, evolution, and circumstance created an extraordinary device that people use for fortunetelling, self-knowledge, and art. Tarot decks with new themes are created by the hundreds, maybe thousands, each year. New decks with differing themes are usually called RWS clones. Clone decks' illustrations are derivative of Pamela's RWS illustrations. […]

The RWS deck is an enigma. It is a complex tarot deck filled with esoteric symbols and secret meanings, yet the illustrations are surprisingly simple. A beginner can use the deck as easily and deftly as a professional. The deck is a perfect artifact of the year of its creation, 1909, yet remains shockingly modern and perfectly usable over a hundred years later. The RWS deck is a Modernist art object as important and impactful as Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon or Edward Munch's The Scream, also painted in 1909, yet the RWS deck does not haunt history by hanging on the wall of a museum. Anyone in the world can buy, borrow, or own a copy. The RWS deck is tucked into backpacks, wrapped in silks, consecrated on alters, stored in college dormitories, and stocked in bookstores around the world.

What I was most surprised to find out is that tarot and oracle cards are indeed widely used by many as a divination tool, to this day. There are thousands and thousands of decks available, and an equal amount of reviews of tarot and oracle decks on YouTube by amateurs and professionals. These reviews are very useful because you can have a look at all the cards before you buy a deck, to see if the artwork on the deck and the card quality are appealing to you. Even though I don't support Amazon in any way, shape, or form, it is fair to say that you can find almost every tarot and oracle deck and book you could possibly think of there, and the customer reviews are often helpful to get a first impression before a purchase. Get your decks from your local bookstore/online store though if you can.

There are also countless YouTube channels where readers (male and female) provide online readings and some of them are also run as a business. Many professional readers provide free readings (for specific sun signs or about other subjects), and extended readings can then be purchased for a (usually) small price. There are tarot readers on YouTube with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

I strongly advise you however to be careful with readers on YouTube and in general. There are many readers who can be contacted for personal readings which they provide for a fee, but this is a double-edged sword. If you find a reader/readings that strongly resonate with you, but you don't know how to interpret tarot cards yourself, you leave yourself wide open to manipulation and deception. Let's say you're in a relationship or married and the (or a) person you are involved with (could also be a friend, relative, colleague you-name-it), knows which YouTube channels are your favorites. It is very easy for them to contact those readers and have them say whatever they want, which you will probably take as good advice, to get YOU to do whatever they want. I'm not saying this is a frequent occurrence, but it has been known to happen so be careful. That being said, watching several random online tarot/oracle readings can give you a good impression of how to shuffle and interpret the cards.

(Update 15 August 2021: Nothing added to the article here, but I removed the list of recommended online readers, as most of their recent readings are highly inaccurate. (I run quality checks) Nothing can surpass what comes out when you pull your own cards, but you can of course run your own searches for tarot readings on YouTube to find the ones that resonate with you.)

Although the videos can be very helpful, YouTube is certainly not the only source where you can learn more about tarot and oracle divination/meditation. There are also innumerable websites that explain the history, meaning, and use of tarot and oracle cards. The cards are used for career and financial readings, any type of relationship advice (husband, wife, friends, family, colleagues, potential love interest, you-name-it), and advice for every other situation you can think of. That's why they're so popular and widely used. A deck that I found particularly interesting for business and financial tarot readings is the Money Tarot Cards. A review can of course be found on YouTube.

A few sites that are nice to start off with for general orientation are:

* benebellwen.com

* biddytarot.com

* tarotgoddess.com

If you decide to start exploring tarot, I highly recommend that you start with an original RWS deck and resources that give good explanations for the cards.

From my own research and readings, there are currently only three sources that I can list with regard to detailed meanings of the cards, which also give highly accurate readings, but you'll have to explore and decide what works for you.

Tarot Card Meanings:

1) Llewellyn's Complete Book of the Rider Waite Smith Tarot

2) TheTarotGuide.com's Major Arcana and Minor Arcana. This site is my absolute favorite with incredibly accurate meanings for the cards. Unfortunately, the descriptions aren't available in printed form so you'll have to look the cards up online. (or copy/paste the various descriptions to a text file and print it out)

3) The Ultimate Guide to Tarot Card Meanings

Recommended RWS based decks to start with:

1) Original Rider-Waite Tarot Deck

2) Golden Art Nouveau Tarot

3) Radiant Wise Spirit Tarot

4) Vice Versa Tarot Kit  (note: if you get this deck make sure you get the kit, as the regular version doesn't have the elaborate guidebook)

5) Gilded Tarot Royale Deck

***Recommended Viewing*** 

An excellent tutorial about the (historical) meaning of the cards in the original RWS deck. It was posted in February 2013 and to date, 22 July 2021, part 1 has had 1,581,953 views. Part 2 has had 306,846 views.

Learn The 78 Tarot Cards in Two Hours – Part 1 of 2

Learn The 78 Tarot Cards in Two Hours – Part 2 of 2

Recommended oracle decks to start with:

1) The Psychic Tarot Oracle Cards

2) The Quantum Oracle

3) Wisdom of the Oracle Cards

4) The Akashic Tarot

5) Mystical Healing Reading Cards

6) Astrology Reading Cards

7) The Tao Oracle  This oracle deck is a very accessible and easy way to get acquainted with the I Ching. The guidebook is very detailed and stands well enough on its own, but if you would like to know more I can recommend the I Ching translation by Hua Ching Ni titled 'The Book of Changes and the Unchanging Truth'. Be mindful though that given the age of the I Ching some of the views, particularly with regard to women, are very outdated so use your discretion when it comes to interpretation.

8) Spirit of the Animals Oracle

9) Keepers of the Light Oracle

10) Goddess Power Oracle Cards The meanings of the cards in this deck apply to both males and females.

***Recommended Reading*** What is the difference between tarot and oracle cards?

A deck that is currently on its way to me from the UK is the Bright Future Tarot deck incl. Workbook and Journal and I can't wait to do a reading with it. The Tower card in the 1st edition is represented as the Twin Towers on 9/11, which could not be more appropriate given the meaning of the Tower card in the original RWS deck. The 1st edition is almost sold out and some of the cards, including The Tower card, are different in the 2nd edition. If you want to get the 1st edition, contact the store before you buy this deck to check if it is still in stock. By default, the 2nd edition is currently shipped.

Tower card in the Bright Future Tarot (image is from a review on YouTube)

Other decks that are contemporary versions of the original RWS deck, which I didn't get because the artwork/images don't particularly appeal to me, but which nonetheless deserve to be mentioned so you know what's out there, are:

* The Light Seer's Tarot

* Elemental Wisdom Tarot

* Heaven & Earth Tarot Kit  (note: if you like this deck and want to buy it make sure you get the kit. Like the Vice Versa tarot, the regular version doesn't have the elaborate guidebook)

* Modern Love Tarot

* The Everyday Enchantment Tarot

* Pocket of Peers Tarot

* Next World Tarot

* The Corporate Tarot and Companion Book

Once you feel you've mastered the images, symbols, and meanings of the traditional RWS enough and you're ready to move on to something more abstract, there are two contemporary decks with silhouettes that are interesting to check out:

* Spirit Within Tarot

* Healing Light Tarot

 Update 8 August 2021 

I am adding 2 other tarot decks I have in my collection to this article (the first two on the list), and a couple of interesting decks that I came across yesterday:

* The Textured Tarot 

* The Moonchild Tarot I had to order this deck from an online shop in Australia last year, as it is an independently created deck and, unfortunately, the designer doesn't ship to Europe. Beautiful artwork and well worth the wait to get it all the way to Amsterdam. This is the Moonchild Tarot's website

* FateShifters Astrology Tarot Deck

* Tarot Of Oppositions

* The Good Karma Tarot This deck is a super beginner-friendly, fun, and playful tarot deck for people who want to learn something about tarot without immediately diving into the original RWS deck. The images in this deck are all related to the RWS meanings of the cards, but without the complicated symbolism. RWS will have to be the next step though if you do decide to get serious about tarot. The Good Karma Tarot is a tarot deck with "training wheels". 🙂

Don't forget that the RWS meanings also apply to all the other aforementioned tarot decks, and very often the creator of a deck adds his/her own understanding and interpretation of the cards in their guidebook as well. When it comes to selecting decks the only thing that really matters is which images and artwork appeal most to YOU.

I'll also list a few more oracle decks I have in my collection:

* Divine Flow

* The Secret Language of Light

* The Priestess of Light Oracle

* Oracle of the Hidden Worlds

* Sacred Geometry Oracle Deck

* Earth Magic Oracle Cards

—— End of August 8th, 2021 update ——

 Update 21 August 2021 

In my teens and several years after that, I read 3 books by Linda Goodman (1925-1995) that gave me valuable insights into astrology and even more esoteric subjects. The books I'm referring to are Sun Signs, Love Signs, and Star Signs. There is a potential for an increase in the intensity of events in the days and months ahead, so as I mentioned in another article, Stay Grounded, Stay Sane, Stay on the only message that matters which is, Refuse All Fear Narratives.

—— End of August 21st, 2021 update ——

These are some of the most popular publishers of tarot and oracle decks (but there are countless others):

Lo Scarabeo

Llewellyn

U.S. Games Systems

Rockpool Publishing

Hay House

Schiffer Publishing

Tarot and oracle cards reflect the energy and (hidden) undercurrents of a particular situation, and/or the character and intentions of the individuals involved. Yep, no kidding, you can learn things about people and circumstances you didn't even know were true, but which later turn out to be spot on. I will not go into details about my own readings but you can explore this yourself, with your own readings.

Get an original RWS deck that you like, and ask your Higher Self a question like, what should I know today?, or what should I know about [relationship/person/situation/problem]?, or what is the best course of action with regard to [relationship/person/situation/problem]?, or what is the most likely outcome of [name situation X]?, or what will be the most likely outcome if I [do X]?.

Shuffle the deck like you would any other deck of playing cards and then pull 1-3 cards in your own way. Some people take the first three cards, some people take every seventh card, some people fan the cards out in front of them and pull the ones they are most attracted to. There really is no fixed system; you can experiment with this and find out which way gives you the most accurate reading/advice. It's all very intuitive. Sometimes 1 or 2 cards spontaneously fly out of the deck when you shuffle, and they provide the perfect answer to your question. Nearly all decks come with guidebooks that also provide examples of spreads.

As this is another DIY Research article I will end the introduction here by saying, have fun exploring and prepare to be amazed!. 🙂