Speaker 1: How do you feel about
oracle cards?
Is that a phrase that makes you
cringe a little bit inside, or
is it something that makes you
go oh yeah, I'm kind of open to
that.
Or are they something that you
already know you absolutely love
to use?
That's what I'd like to talk
about today.
Love to use, that's what I'd
like to talk about today.
Welcome to the Henny Flynn
podcast, the space for deepening
self-awareness with profound
self-compassion.
I'm Henny.
I write, coach and speak about
how exploring our inner world
can transform how we experience
our outer world, all founded on
a bedrock of self-love.
Settle in and listen and see
where the episode takes you.
About six years ago, is it that
?
Oh, no, gosh, longer eight, oh,
my word.
Anyway, about eight years ago, I
went on my very first sort of
really like big transformative I
could honestly say
life-changing yoga retreats.
I'd never really done yoga and
I was quite anxious about going.
To be honest, I hadn't been
well.
It was sort of part of the
recovery.
If you've been listening to the
podcast before, you'll have
heard me speak about this and I
considered myself to be very
unfit, overweight.
I had a really poor self-image
that had become compounded,
really, from years of having a
kind of poor self-image, which
is interesting because I'm not
sure that people who observed me
might have realized that, but
it was definitely what was going
on underneath the surface and
um.
So I was a bit anxious about
going and um and I've talked
before about how um,
transformative that experience
was how I arrived, recognising
that I was carrying a whole load
of conditioned behaviours.
I observed myself in the taxi
on the way from the airport the
retreat was in Ibiza, as you do
darling, treat was in Ibiza, as
you do darling and I observed
myself in this sort of big
air-conditioned car that came
and picked up a group of us from
the airport, slipping into some
really familiar patterns of
behavior, making myself into the
performing monkey you know,
self-deprecating jokes, trying
to make everybody else feel
comfortable, recognizing that
some people weren't, you know,
weren't speaking, so kind of
drawing them into the
conversation.
You know, lovely stuff in many
ways, but also kind of a little
bit performative.
But I had no idea that that's
actually what I was doing.
So I say that with so much love
and affection.
And, by the way, if you can
hear rattling and banging I'm
not sure if the mic is going to
pick it up, but the beaded
curtain that is across the door
of my stable is blowing around
in the wind, but I cannot have
the door shut because today is
one of those really hot days
that we've been experiencing in
England and Ronnie is panting
furiously by my feet.
I'm hoping that he's okay
anyway.
So I observed, know this kind of
familiar behaviours when I was
in the car on the way to the
retreat and when we arrived I
stood on the doorstep of this
phenomenal villa.
I felt, and feel still, very
privileged to have been able to
go to it, very privileged to
have been able to go to it.
I stood in the doorway and a
voice the voice I now recognize
the voice said to me I could
either walk in carrying
everything, you know, all my
emotional baggage, all my
psychological baggage, all my
beliefs about myself.
I could either walk in carrying
all of that or I could lay them
down at the door and walk in
naked, metaphorically naked, and
I am eternally grateful to the
woman that I was then that she
chose to put that stuff down,
and I'm not saying she didn't
pick up some of it again, but,
um, broadly speaking, she chose
to put that stuff down.
I'm not saying she didn't pick
up some of it again, but broadly
speaking, she chose to put that
stuff down and enter that villa
, enter that experience as
uncluttered as she could do in
that time and you know it was
wonderful and it it was a sort
of huge part of the jigsaw that
um activated so much change for
me.
So one of the things that was
there and um the actually just a
sort of little aside that the
woman who created that retreat
was called Sula, and the retreat
is soul shine retreats, if you
are, if it's available to you, I
mean they, they are, you know,
high end, it has to be said, but
for very, very good reason, for
the, for what you receive when
you're there.
Sula's retreats are so
beautiful, so special.
She's an incredibly special
human being and I'm really,
really grateful that our paths
crossed and I I went on retreat
with her more than once um and
and connected with her in lots
of different ways and actually
she's been on the podcast um, so
I'll I'll put a note about
which episode um you know to go
and listen to if you'd like to
hear a bit more from Sula and
hear a bit more about our story
together.
So, anyway, one of the things
that Sula had um, at this
retreat, was on the side.
She had some oracle cards and
this is a very long preamble
I've just realized we're six
minutes in and finally she's
mentioned these oracle cards and
one of the packs that she had.
So I think there was some tarot
.
There were some other kind of
oracle cards I've got some here
which are the words of wisdom
from Rumi, you know that kind of
thing and she had some angel
cards which are essentially
oracle cards, and we, you know,
at one point I was sort of
standing there with a couple of
other women and we were looking
at these angel cards and we each
chose one and as I was reading
it, I said, god, I really
recognize this, I really I know
these cards.
Hang on a minute.
And then I started like I
actually looked at them like
properly, rather than just a
kind of yet another wonderful
thing in a place full of
wonderful things.
I actually really really
focused on them and I told these
women oh, my goodness, I used
to have some of these, and, um
and it, I remembered that when I
was at university so, um, well,
gosh, 25 or so years before,
I'd had a pack of these, these
angel cards, and they're the
Diane Cooper ones.
If you have a set, maybe
they're the same.
And yeah, I went through the
retreat.
It was amazing.
I learned so much and I came
home really inspired and
invigorated and one of the first
things that I did was I just
thought well, I would never have
thrown away a pack of oracle
cards.
And I know I gave my runes.
I also used to read runes at
university.
I know I gave my runes.
I also used to read runes at
university.
I know I gave my runes to
Leslie, but I'm pretty sure I
didn't give anyone my angel
cards.
And I walked upstairs, bearing
in mind we'd lived in that house
well, by the time we left 20
years, so lived in that house
for over 15 years at that point,
um, and moved things around a
lot.
And in between university and
that moment I lived in Egypt,
lived in Portugal, um, lived in
various other houses, blah, blah
, blah, blah, blah.
So you know my stuff had been
packed up, unpacked, moved
around a lot, anyway.
So I walk up the stairs, I go
into the spare room because I
thought, well, if they're
anywhere, they'll be on the
bookshelves in the spare room.
And honestly, I kid you not.
I walked into the spare room and
the bookshelves in the spare
room were always crowded I mean
always like overladen, with
books always struggling to get
things in.
And on the top shelf of these
wooden bookshelves big wooden
bookshelves on the top shelf in
a space all of their own was a
small, fairly nondescript little
velvet green bag.
And I looked at this little bag
and I thought, oh my God, I
think that's them.
I walked over to the shelves
and I undid the drawstring on
this little velvet bag and there
they were, my angel cards.
My angel cards that I couldn't
remember looking at in any of
the packing or unpacking that
I'd done over the years.
I certainly couldn't remember
putting them in their own
discreet, special space in the
prime real estate that were our
wooden bookshelves in the spare
room at that time.
And it absolutely threw me and
it seemed the most obvious thing
in the world.
And so I then started using
those angel cards pretty much
every day, actually, for for
quite a long time.
I started including them in my
daily practice.
So I would draw a card, read it
and then go into that day's
mindfulness practice or
meditation.
Sometimes I use the cards as
inspiration for journaling and I
suppose they kind of became
part of what then developed into
being the practice that I now
teach flow journaling, that I
sort of developed over the years
and they really became like a
very intrinsic part of my change
journey, my ongoing change
journey.
And so I have this incredibly
warm space in my heart for these
cards and, while I really
understand and appreciate that,
for some people the concept of
Oracle cards feels very alien or
or maybe maybe even feels, you
know, slightly ridiculous, like
how on earth could a pack of
cards hold any wisdom for you?
You know, any wisdom for you.
You know that's not simply the
most random selection of, um,
you know, of choosing a card,
but my experience of using them
is that it's really about
allowing what you see on that
card to spark, inspire, to
invigorate your own intuition,
your own sense of, like,
self-observation, self-awareness
, and really kind of looking at
it and thinking, okay.
So what's the bit about this
that I love and also often like?
What's the bit that I'm
rejecting?
What's the bit that I feel
resistance towards?
What's going on there?
Why am I feeling resistance
towards that?
What's the thing I'm feeling
cynical about?
What does that show me about
something that I'm responding to
in this card, this randomly
selected card, this randomly
selected, perfectly placed
little piece of insight and
wisdom perfectly placed little
piece of insight and wisdom and
and so, yeah, so I think you
know a bit like, um, any
practice, really, you can take
from them what feels useful and
you leave behind what doesn't
feel useful.
I don't think it's any more
complicated than that and I also
find that when we are open to
these kinds of practices, it's a
bit like kind of being in a
room where another door is
opened, maybe a door that's had
some furniture pushed up against
it, maybe some bookshelves
that's had some furniture pushed
up against it.
Maybe you didn't even know the
door was there, or, um, he just
hadn't ever bothered because
there were all these other doors
, and why would you look at that
one?
Um, it's a bit like having that
door open up for you and just
gives you another perspective, a
fresh view on the world around
you.
And actually, if you imagine,
just as I'm saying it, the sort
of sense that I have, or the
sort of imagined sense that I
have, is it's like that room is
circular and the doors are all
the way around it.
You're in the middle and it's a
lovely room.
It's a very nice place to be.
Thank you very much.
Um, the doors that are open,
they, you know, offer us some
really interesting perspectives,
interesting views on the world.
But if you imagine that some of
those doors are shut and you
know, and, and we've lost any
interest in opening them, or
maybe we're conditioned not to
have interest in opening them,
or maybe we're a bit afraid not
to open them, or a bit afraid to
open them, you know, maybe that
means that we've got some blind
spots, maybe that means that
there's something there that
actually might be of value to us
.
Now, I know that we can take
this metaphor out and out and
apply it into lots of things,
you know, sometimes exploring
things, you know, incredibly
challenging things that we've
experienced in the past.
Sometimes psychotherapists will
recommend actually keeping that
door shut because, you know,
maybe right now isn't the time
to look, but in the context of
tools and mechanisms and
beautiful things, you know,
beautiful, kind, generous,
wonderful, tender things that
are really only in the world to
serve us, maybe opening those
doors is is something that you
know might be interesting, fun
and could also offer up
something really, really
inspiring.
Next to the desk, um, having a
look at one of my early
journaling prompts and just
seeing.
Is there one there that is
inspired by the Diane Cooper?
Um, uh, angel cards.
Um, it's interesting actually,
because I don't often use.
I've got several packs of tarot
now.
I seem to be gathering them to
me.
Um, I don't tend to use the
tarot as an inspiration for
journaling.
I occasionally use my Rumi cards
, and I'd love to hear you know
do you have any particular
oracle cards that you really
love?
Please do share that with me.
I'm always interested in
hearing from you and hearing you
know something that I might
like to explore too.
You can message me just by
doing the the tap to share your
reflections.
I think that's what the button
says at the top of the show
notes and and that will just
come straight to me.
Or you can email me hennyflynn
uh, no, that's wrong, henny at
hennyflynncouk.
Um, and then the other thing
that I'd really love to share
with you is I have created well,
I'm going to go back slightly.
About three years ago, I created
my own oracle cards, and they
began as handwritten scraps of
paper that I put into a jar and
I would every now and again pull
out.
Came to me that actually I
could make them properly, like
really beautifully make them,
and so I did so.
I made these sets of love words
, I had them printed I have a
wonderful printer that I use and
I had them printed.
And then I started using the
love words with my girlfriends,
like when we gathered and you
know well, when we gather and
drink cacao together, which we
do, we would use my love words
as a means of exploring what was
present for us at that time.
Um, I don't know why I'm doing
it in the past tense, because we
still do it.
Um, and then I started, I gifted
some sets to some girlfriends
for, like, birthdays or you know
that sort of thing, and they
started using them with,
sometimes with their family
members, like the whole family
sitting around, you know,
teenagers, men, women, um, uh,
other, you know sort of aged
children, um, and what became
really apparent was that the
love words are so accessible,
they're so invitational that
even you know, even members of
the family that you might have
expected would reject something
that you'd call an oracle card,
um, or that you might call an
angel card or something.
Um, even those members of the
family felt really comfortable
with them.
Something's just happening with
my machine.
Oh, there we go.
Um that they felt really
comfortable with them and um,
and also I, and also I think,
because they are simply words,
there isn't the mythology, which
can be a little bit daunting,
that you get with some oracle
cards, where the artwork is
often incredibly beautiful.
The same with tarot, you know,
incredibly beautiful artwork,
yet can be a barrier to um to
access or a barrier to to even
sort of step toward them for
some people because they just
feel too much, they're too
expressive, they're too, uh,
full of mythology or
spirituality or magical wisdom
or you know, whatever the thing
is.
You know these love words that
I've created.
They are so simple, they are
deceptively simple, I would say,
because what we've also
discovered is that using them
unlocks such deep meaning for
people because each word they're
very, very carefully gathered,
I have to say, and very, it was
such a oh gosh.
Honestly, the process of
creating it felt like channeling
, and my discovery over the last
three years has been watching
people using them and realizing
that everybody interprets each
word in their own unique way and
that is their magic, that is
their wisdom is that this is not
about a third party telling you
what you should think about
something.
It's about you randomly
selecting a card or four and
interpreting what that means for
you.
And that means that you're
really tapping into your own
innate and incredibly special
wisdom, and so I am beyond
excited.
I know it's like it's hard
sometimes when we create
something and send it out into
the world to to really speak to
what a beautiful experience it
is, because when it's not right,
it feels really scary and feels
like, oh, there's a lot of
resistance, but when it's right,
oh gosh, it's just like release
.
And I have been working over
the last little while weeks,
months, I think really um on the
packaging and kind of like,
what does that need to be like?
How are they presented, how
what's going to give the most
delicious experience of using
them?
And I'm really, really excited
that I found what I believe to
be the simplest, cleanest, most
beautiful way of presenting them
and, um, and something that
means that, again, they're
uncluttered, so you can just
focus in on choosing your words
and seeing what they mean for
you.
And if that is inspiring you,
then I'm going to put a link in
the show notes for you, or you
can go and have a look on my
website, in the shop on my
website, and they're simply
called love, words, um, and the
invitation is to see where they
take you.
A bit like this, this podcast
really um, that's one of the
things I say at the beginning,
isn't it?
You know, settle in, listen and
see where it takes you.
It's the same with the love
words you settle in, you choose
your, listen and see where it
takes you.
It's the same with the love
words you settle in, you choose
your cards and see where they
take you.
And in each box there's a
little bit of guidance with some
ideas for how you can use them.
And just referencing back to
what I said about when I was
rediscovering my love of my
angel cards and using them as
part of my journaling practice,
you can use the love words as
part of your flow journaling
practice and and I give you a
couple of ideas for how to do
that.
And the other thing, of course,
is there are no rules.
You know you can use these in
lots and lots of different ways
and you can use them with
anybody in your family,
friendship group, maybe, like I
do with my girlfriends, you know
, when we drink cacao.
Or maybe, as I know a number of
people do, where they just
choose a card for the day and
see what inspiration it brings.
So I feel I'm so glad I've like
finally properly shared these
and I really hope you love like
some.
Please order and I'll get them
out to you.
I mean, what a beautiful summer
edition they could be for you
or someone that you love.
Love, all right, my darlings.
Okay, I know that today is a
Monday, but I am publishing.
Help, if I could speak.
I'm gonna publish this today.
I'm really mindful.
I haven't got the podcast out
to you for a couple of weeks.
It's just how it is.
You know, nothing major just
didn't feel right.
So I trusted that and now it
does.
So I'm trusting that instead
and I really hope that you're
okay.
I hope you're well.
I am sending you so much love
and a hug and a wave, thank you.