This Just In: TRUE YANG
over 1 year ago – Thu, Oct 13, 2022 at 02:10:34 PM

This just came in through What's App from Yael!

This is the illustration for the card True Yang.

You see, anytime we are talking about the Yin, the Yang has to be included.  And vise versa.  They are polarities—two sides of one coin.  They don't exist without the other.

The cards of Manifestation make up a Yang set within the Power of the Yin Oracle Deck.

I love this set, because it speaks to my fiery Leo-Mars conjunction: very Yang for a Priestess of the Yin!

True Yang

The bow has been drawn.

Aim and loose the arrow!

There is an instance for action

Shining clarity

Single-mindedness

Sharp focus

Precision

Decision.

A bolt of lightning,

It arises in its right timing

from the Inexhaustible Resource.

It fulfills and harmonizes the Yin.

This is the doing that comes from being.

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Everyday support for this project is growing.  Thank you!

I would love for you to share this project with one or two friends or loved ones.  You can just send them this link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/poweroftheyin/the-power-of-the-yin-oracle-deck

Your social media would also be a wonderful place to help me spread the word.  

I so appreciate this word-of-mouth support!

An Inspired Partnership . . . and Lots of Mushrooms!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Oct 12, 2022 at 02:51:58 PM

This post is an excerpt from Power of the Yin Oracle Deck Illustrator D. Yael Bernhard's recent newsletter.

I so love hearing Yael's perspective on this project, on our collaboration, and how her images are inspired by and dance with my words.  As you'll see, she's a beautiful writer as well.

We are such a good match for the Power of the Yin!

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Guidance is the name of this card that I recently illustrated for The Power of the Yin Oracle Deck by Daven Lee – a unique project I've been working on all year.  

Each card is accompanied by text on the back that's meant to spark reflection.  Daven's writings are a cross between blessings, prayers, and poetry.  Deliberately understated to leave space for interpretation, her words are both gentle and bold, always guiding the reader toward her own inner resources.  

Daven walks her talk, living by the lights she strives to kindle in others.  The intuitive guidance suggested in this image of a woman foraging for wild mushrooms is exactly her style.  

Throughout the gestation of this project, Daven has traveled throughout the United Kingdom in a spontaneous manner, leading workshops, connecting with women, walking the coastal highlands, visiting ancient sites, listening for life's subtle input – and gathering mushrooms all the way.  We've pondered her fungal photos together almost as much as we've discussed the sketches and illustrations for the deck.  

Thus this particular card, though it does not resemble its author visually, seems to represent her – as well as me, for I'm a forest-dweller too, with a passion for wild plants and fungi.  

These shared sensibilities have made our creative partnership deeply gratifying for both Daven and me – and we hope this translates into the cards, for the benefit of all whose path they cross.

Anyone who forages for mushrooms knows the uncanny feeling of finding them after first walking past them and seeing nothing.  Often it's on my way back to my car that I see an elegant cap protruding from the carpet of fallen leaves, or a colorful polypore growing from the crack in a tree.  Signs of bear and wild turkey, porcupine, deer and other animals also reveal themselves, as well as wild plants both familiar and strange.  Beneath the woman's feet, the living mycelium penetrates the earth, just as her subtle connection to nature is woven throughout her life.  The luminescent blue background seemed like the right color to convey the peaceful quietude of the forest.  

Is the woman being guided by the crescent moon, the bear, the bird, or the spirits watching over her?  

You decide.

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I have an invitation for you: 

If you have pledged to receive one deck, I invite you to upgrade to the THREE DECK PLEDGE.  

Why?

–you save $27 ($9/per deck)

–you have one for yourself and two to give

–this creates an instant Power of the Yin community

–you help this project become a beautiful reality!

Thank you!

"Another Kind of Power Entirely"
over 1 year ago – Tue, Oct 11, 2022 at 05:40:25 PM

Dear Friends,

Today I received Charles Eisenstein's latest email post, and I was blown away.

In it, along with a beautiful childbirth story and a critique of the latest power-feminine video series, he articulated exactly what these cards, The Power of the Yin Oracle Deck, are about.

Here are a few quotes from his post.  I encourage you to read the full essay here.

"Through the eyes of an imbalanced patriarchy, matriarchy is invisible. Matriarchy is not patriarchy with women substituted into men’s patriarchal roles. It is not women exercising the kind of power that men have in patriarchy. Matriarchy enacts another kind of power entirely, one that the modern mind cannot easily recognize."

"Feminine power does not move the world through force. It tethers the masculine powers to life, directs them toward love, and keeps them grounded in beauty. "

His post, for me, is a rallying cry for remembrance and cultivation of this matriarchal, feminine power: the Power of the Yin.  This is the path to healing, flourishing and true, life-giving partnership between the masculine and the feminine. And it is the path of The Power of the Yin Oracle Deck.

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Support for this project is growing day by day--thank you!

The Guardians of Your Yin Power Part 4: Your Vow
over 1 year ago – Mon, Oct 10, 2022 at 01:23:13 PM

This is the last post in the series describing the four cards The Guardians of Your Yin Power.

Guardian #4: Your Vow

This is the final Guardian of Your Yin Power. This is the secret—perhaps even inarticulate—vow that you make to and with your Soul.  

This is the vow it would "kill you to break," in the words of David Whyte, whose poem, "All the True Vows" is the inspiration for this card.

What does this mean?  How do you know what your own vow is?  

I don't have an answer.  

What I can tell you is how it feels in me:  there's something deep and indescribable that I feel an allegiance to. To declare my vow is an intimate act of turning towards my essence, my path on earth and beyond.  

Once we make this vow, we are in a loving bond with our deep being.  We are called back to it again and again. Its fulfillment is a lifelong process.

This is one of the Guardians because your vow is your sovereignty and your majesty.  There is no commitment to anything outside of you that can supersede this vow.

The Guardians of Your Yin Power Part 3: Your Voice
over 1 year ago – Sat, Oct 08, 2022 at 03:27:06 PM

This post is part three in the series describing the four cards The Guardians of Your Yin Power.

Guardian #3: Your Voice

It is challenging to articulate our experience from the subtle, intuitive Yin realms.  Linear language falls far short of capturing the ineffable quality of this energy.  And so we can fall silent.

But "your silence will not protect you."*

Your Voice is your powerful protector, articulating your truth and speaking up for the mysterious, unquantifiable and intangible Yin.

And so we must speak what we can--and howl and roar what is beyond words.

As you do, it becomes contagious. You inspire others to take up the call: "To speak and be heard."

 *Audre Lorde