The Tarot Masters

 

The Tarot Masters edited by Kim Arnold

Published by Hay House UK

RRP £9.99 Hay House Price £6.99

 

To say that I LOVED this book would be a serious understatement. I have to begin by saying that if you know ANYONE who is a Tarot Lover then this is an absolute MUST BUY for their Festive Christmas Gift! I know that if I woke up on Christmas morning to find this in my stocking, wow I would be one serious Jubilant Girly!

 

The Tarot Masters features 38 tarot experts (the crème de la crème of the Tarot world) and their deeply insightful take on tarot. The book is separated into two distinct sections that flow from each other beautifully. The first section take the Major Arcana (illustrated of course) and a Tarot Expert discusses both their interpretation of the card and their journey into the world of tarot. It's bang up to date as they discuss what they are currently doing, and what projects they are working on.

 

So who are the tarot experts that I am so giddy about? I am so glad that you asked.

Kim Arnold, founder of the prestigious UK Tarot Conference, has managed to gleam the insights from the likes of Juliet Sharman-Burke (My first EVER tarot deck was by this wonderful expert), Richard Abbot whom was trained by the late Arthur Norris - who by the way happened to read for my Mother several times before his passing in 2010 and whom I leant a few techniques from, Mary K. Greer, Ciro Marchetti - another tarot expert whom I have high praise for, Alison Cross... and ... Oh I am not going to spoil it!

 

Coming from a family of psychics myself who have used a variety of methods, tools and techniques to gleam insight into people's lives, I was absolutely THRILLED at reading just how these tarot experts began their journeys. Each time I read that a Tarot Expert used the playing cards to foretell the future I high-fived my Nan in the spirit world (along with my Great Nan, and Great Great Nan, and Great, Great, Great Nan) because I recall at being just under 2 years of age and my Nan sat with me in the living room of her home teaching me the meanings of the playing cards. I thoroughly enjoyed doing this, I thought it was an important game we were playing, I think on some level, my soul knew what I was doing, and knew it was a huge part in the development of my destiny, (and family tradition) and in some way I was still innocent enough to not have my ego jumping in and messing it all up. Interestingly, my Nan always called the playing cards "the Prayer Book" or "the bible" and readings have always been "scarily" accurate.

 

I simply cannot praise this book high enough! If I were to stand on top of the worlds tallest Mountain and have a huge banner waving frantically at you promoting this book, it wouldn't be enough (OK I'd look like a lunatic but I'd do it anyway for this book!). Please, if you LOVE tarot as much as I do, Or even half as much, go and buy the book, Santa says you've been VEY VERY GOOD this year, you deserve it! You never know what you'll discover yourself!

 

 

 

All written content on this blog is the work of © Dawn Brierley, Life Coach, Podcast Host, Metaphysician, Intuitive Angel Therapist, Tarot Lover & Spiritual Mentor

The Power of the Archangels

 

Archangel Power Tarot Cards by Doreen Virtue & Radleigh Valentine

Published by Hay House UK

RRP £13.99 Hay House Price £9.79

 

Doreen and Radleigh the tarot duo return with the new Archangel Power Tarot Cards which promise to help you drive yourself forward to making those positive life changes with the insight and wisdom you gain from using these colourful tarot cards.

I love tarot and have become somewhat of a collector for pretty decks that give powerful messages with a high level of accuracy. These tarot cards are more colourful than their previous deck the Angel Tarot Cards, however the artwork on some of these cards let them down ever so slightly. Clearly photo-shopped with images of Doreen, Radleigh and other members of their friends and family, the deck becomes somewhat hard to take seriously when you focus so much on the images. I love the idea of personalising your tarot deck and even the idea of putting Doreen and Radleigh in the deck is wonderful, I just think that with the professional reputation that both these two spiritual teachers have, I would have hoped for better photo-shopped images - with a flawless finish.

 

                      

 

 

However if you can see past the imagery and focus on the card message itself from either prior experience of using tarot or the use of the accompanying guidebook then for example; pulling the Five of Gabriel or the Six of Michael won't really matter what image the cards have. You will be able to see through the imagery and focus on the message that is given - although most cards are incredibly beautiful to look at. I absolutely have some favourite cards in this deck based on their imagery and message which I will share at the end of the post.

 

To use these cards is a pleasant experience, shuffling is easy, flowing beautifully - I am not a fan of those sticky cards that when you shuffle just never synchronistically blend in with the other cards  - you almost have to force them into place. With this deck there is no force needed, they are so gentle, and beautiful. The readings I've done for myself and my loved ones using this tarot deck have provided some amazing insight, showing what is working in life and what isn't and more importantly, what steps need to be taken to correct them. There are the major arcana cards, and each of the usual Wands, Cups, Pentacles and Swords are replaced by Gabriel, Michael, Raphael and Ariel.

 

This tarot deck gives you the confidence and courage to move forward based on the guidance given, and the accompanying booklet explains the meaning of each card along with guidance on how you can use these cards and give readings for yourself, friends and family if you have never used them before. A good introduction to anyone interested in tarot but never felt the courage to use them because of the seeming negative cards. Even the not so positive messages in this deck has powerful and pro-active advice to them, thus turning a negative into a positive.

 

Overall, a pleasing deck, and I am aware of plans for another tarot deck to be released next year (shhh it's a secret ATM) so my only deep wish is that the images on that deck will be greatly improved from this one, as I know that a lot of people are drawn to tarot by the images and also use the images to interpret them!  

 

 

 

Archangel Power Tarot Cards by Doreen Virtue & Radleigh Valentine

Published by Hay House UK

RRP £13.99 Hay House Price £9.79
 

All written content on this blog is the work of © Dawn Brierley, Life Coach, Intuitive Angel Therapist, Tarot Lover & Spiritual Mentor

Awaken Your Inner Faerie ~ Day 1

 

Awaken Your Inner Faerie in 30 Days by Alex Clarke

Published by 6th Books

RRP £9.99  Available on Amazon UK  

 

 

 

So my gorgeous friend Alex Clarke, author of Awaken Your Inner Faerie in 30 Days  gifted me her wonderful new book to awaken my inner faerie! It's a 30 day practice that help you tap into your creativity, wildness, fun source and powerful inner fae. I agreed to do a review of this book for her and it's the least I can do seeing as I am featured in this book - you can check out page 99 to see what I have to say.

 

I decided to dedicate a small blog each day for 30 days so that my journey to my inner faerie is documented and witnessed. I have worked with the faeries very publically in the past having a column with the leading faerie magazine (FAE Magazine), and being known as The Faerie Whisperer may ring some faerie bells to a lot of you lovely readers. But there is always more room to discover more about yourself and for me, today was Day 1.

 

So what did I learn today? I am so glad you asked that question!

I learnt all about the Faerie Clan that I belong to! Yes, you read that right, my faerie clan revealed itself to me through the magickal questionnaire contained within these magickal pages. You see, in Alex's practice working with clients on developing and awakening their inner faerie she is able to work out which clan they belong to which really helps with the rest of the sessions - and lessons in this book. A sneaky secret - tomorrow I get to meet the Faerie Queen of my Clan - exciting!

 

 

 

So anyway, I discovered that I belong to the "Omil of the Tree Roots" clan. You may be wondering what on earth they are? And rightly so because they are of the earth, they... Hang on let me let Alex explain in her words taken from the book;

The Omil clan live in hollows and tree roots; they dress in gossamer and have pointed wing tips to punch holes in lies and corruption. They are compulsive truth tellers. They also like to sing into spiders' webs to watch the universe wobble. They understand words change worlds. The Omil understand language as frequency which makes them excellent writers, journalists and storytellers. They have an otherworldly ability to emotional power games being played and how they will pan out. They communicate in words easily and can often cook up an interesting anecdote or two, or three hundred. Sadly if found in an environment where secrecy is norm, or self deceit encouraged, the Omils can feel themselves going round the bend. They end up looking at the world with despair and disgust; sometimes retreating into solitude and sleep, pottering generally grumping about and sleeping some more. (...) The Omil's totem is the spider who shows up to say 'Hey! You can change this! Weave some magic words together and let the manifestation unfurl...'

 So there we have it - this witch and her inner faerie take no rubbish and lies from anyone! Can't say you haven't been warned now haha. On a more serious note, this makes sense to me for some many reasons - the entire interpretation that is. I have friends tell me that I was right about someone in their life who has less than friendly intentions towards them. I warned them beforehand -perhaps because I can see the emotional power games they are playing. I do know that all my life I've had this ability to see through the (excuse my French here) bullshit that people do, say and act with. None of it washes with me. It's interesting because to me the Omil Tree Clan sound similar to Indigo Warriors /Adults / Children that we read about. Standing up and fighting for justice. What else I find interesting and wonder fi there is a connection is that when I chose to train in a healing modality I chose to work with Celtic Reiki - Reiki using tree energy.

So, I've learnt a little more about me today and tomorrow I get to meet my Faerie Clan Queen - I have no idea what to expect and I am looking forward to it. Please come back and visit tomorrow to find out all about the Faerie Queen I meet during meditation! And if you want a piece of the action (We so know that you do!) then use the links above directly underneath the book image to purchase your copy!


All written content on this blog is the work of © Dawn Brierley, Life Coach, Wiccan, Intuitive Angel Therapist, Tarot Lover & Mentor

Words of Comfort ~ Messages to Help Heal Grief

How to Heal a Grieving Heart by Doreen Virtue & James Van Praag

Published by Hay House

RRP £10.99       Hay House Price £8.79

How to Heal a Grieving Heart - the title itself filled me with hope for a manual of some sort of how to actually heal your grieving heart. I was eager to get my hands on this book because I have been involved with helping loved ones attempt to heal their grieving heart through mediumship for the past 9 years. I've received countless emails from people who are suffering from losing a loved one, some even feeling that they can no longer go on. When you have someone coming to you for help, comfort, advice and communication from their loved ones, it really does humble you, I am honoured to be able to help these people, I can almost feel their pain and the stories they relay to me are so heart wrenching at times it's all I can do to try and not cry with them!

For this reason I was sincerely hoping that one of my favourite new thought  authors and spiritual teachers would have provided me with guidance, and also a book I could recommend to all these people. Sadly I don't believe the title of this book matches it's contents. Let me explain;

This book contains beautiful imagery of butterflies - a favourite being of mine which has since as far back as I can remember has always represented a loved one in spirit/heaven. The colours are divine, and almost each page contains a paragraph of comforting words and some comforting advice. I didn't agree with some of the advice based on my own experiences of loss and grief, and thinking back to when Mum and I were dealing with the loss of my Father, I can only honestly say that some of the paragraphs of comfort in this book would have possibly either pushed me over the edge or made me feel anger, despair and other related grieving emotions all at once.

Just because your loved has moved to the higher dimension does not mean he or she has forgotten about you and is uninterested in your life.

For example, the passage about keeping on top of your nutrition and making sure you are eating correctly I fully agree with in part. It really is important that when you are dealing with a loss of a loved one that you keep your energy up and eat correctly - although I know from personal experience the last thing you care about is whether you are healthy or not. But what really kind of got me miffed was when the passage continued to recommend going shopping for organic produce in health food stores. The last thing I ever wanted to do when dealing with the loss of my Father, Aunt, Uncle, Nan etc was think about going to a health food shop and ensure my produce was organic! It was a tough time to even get to the fridge and eat anything at all. Cooking was tough - having to change cooking for 3 to cooking for 2 was really really emotional and even still today it becomes tough going to the supermarket and seeing foods my Father used to love that we no longer have to buy.

Your loved one does see you and visits you frequently in your dreams, when you need help, and while you are engaged in activities that you two once shared.

There was a lot of repetitive messages too in my opinion that was simply re-written or simplified or added to. There must have been about 3-4 messages about doing some sort of memorial for a loved one. Yes this is a brilliant idea, but you only have to mention it once! We may be grieving but ...

Life is change, and change is life. it is through change that we are able to clearly measure where we have come from, where we currently are, and where we wish to go.

I believe that had this book been called; Healing Messages : Words of Comfort through Grief, then it may have probably met the expectations, because this book doesn't in my opinion tell you "HOW TO HEAL A GRIEVING HEART". We all react to grief in our own unique way and no one feels the same emotions or feelings, that is one thing both the book and I can agree on. The book does contain lovely messages of upliftment for when you are remembering a loved one and are already in a stronger more healed place.

There is no such thing as death. Death is very much an illusion. A soul can never be harmed, and nothing can put out the light of your being.

I am slightly torn between this book because it has it's good points and it's not so good points and I do feel slightly uneasy by not providing a positive review. However I'm not going to praise a book up on a topic that I am so passionate about, something that I am actually involved in when in my opinion and the standards I've set aren't met. In all honesty when I receive an email from someone who is at the deepest most painful stage of their grief, I wouldn't recommend this book to them. From my experience of the questions my clients ask me about their loved ones regarding death and grief, well, the answers aren't in this book. However if you like reading short inspiring passages to comfort you when you are at the later stage of your grief, or even 2-3 years after losing a loved one, and you want some advice on how to get on with life, then maybe this book is for you. If you are at the early stages of grief, I would recommend a bereavement counsellor, and listening to your inner voice and feelings - what do you want to do right now, cry? do it. Scream? do it. Stay in bed for a week? do it. Only you know how to heal your grief, we can only advise you on things we've found to be helpful. As with anything, take what makes sense to you, what feels right to you, what feels comfortable with you at that time, and leave everything else.

The memories you and your loved one created in life now live on in your heart for all time. Memories stay with you forever; they can never go away! They are always there for you to enjoy, so remember and relive those wonderful, happy and unique moments you shared.

This was one review that I was at first looking forward to writing, but then after reading it I wasn't so enthusiastic, which in itself saddened me. I have always been a huge fan of Doreen's work, and have every title that she has ever written, and each one holds a memory of the time in my life when I read it. Sadly, this book really felt like a huge disappointment to me. I can only hope that the "Talking to Heaven" Mediumship Oracle Cards will be a double spectacular to make up for it.

**You can view an extract of this book on Hay House UK's website which I highly recommend so that you can make your own mind up before purchasing**

All written content on this blog is the work of © Dawn Brierley, Life Coach, Intuitive Angel Therapist, Tarot Lover & Mentor

A Year Of Dates With The Angels

 

My Angel Diary 2014 by Jenny Smedley

Published by Hay House UK

RRP: £7.99 Hay House Price £6.39

 

"This beautiful diary will take you on an exciting journey into the hidden realms of the angels, and the energies of nature in the world around you. Month by month, it will help to bring you closer to our celestial friends than you ever thought possible."

 

Jenny Smedley, renowned spiritual healer, therapist, advisor and author has brought us another year full of angels to guide our days in 2014. Having already brought us these wonderful angel diaries in both 2012 and 2013, it was a pleasure to see this charming pocket sized angel diary arrive on my doorstep. Containing 777 pages of pure divine wisdom, inspiration and comfort, this diary will have you feeling protected, guided, supported and blessed from the moment you begin working with it.

 

 

Each month begins with a "FOCUS" and is wonderfully complimented with REAL ANGEL STORIES from many of Jenny's loyal readers who continue to write to her of their celestial encounters. Then throughout the pages which are organised on a week to view basis there are weekly ANGEL LESSONS, INSPIRED WORDS for the week, FLOWERS of inspiration and WISE WORDS and QUOTES from a variety of sources.

 

At the start of the diary there is even a written ANGEL MEDITATION to help you meet your very own guardian angel and receive their assistance in your life. It is perfect in length for you to read to a group of friends should you decide to commit to an angelic study group in 2014 as a new year resolution, or even record to listen to yourself in the privacy and comfort of your very own angel sanctuary.  

 

As if that isn't enough ... each month focuses on a different planetary body in our solar system which helps with the FOCUS given at the beginning of each month. Each daily section in the diary provides enough room for you to jot down your important appointments, birthdays, anniversaries and even angelic blessings and signs that you've encountered - perfect for seeing just how much the angels surround you! 

This would make a DIVINE CHRISTMAS present or even birthday present before January!
I personally LOVE using these diaries as they provide enough daily inspiration, comfort, and angelic love to support me through the year. I love reading Jenny's books which include; Angel Whispers (perfect if you want lots of information on how you can work with the angels more), Soul Angels (Discovering all about those angels that guide your soul each time you incarnate), and Pets Have Souls Too (Detailing animals in the afterlife).

"As you learn to walk with angels beside you each day, prepare for peace and love to flow into your life, and to watch your wishes come true!"

This is just another wonderful angel book with a difference!  I don't have to put back on the shelf until the year is over - this comes with me in my handbag to compliment the angels that walk by my side.
Make sure to check out Jenny's website ~ www.JennySmedley.com and her Facebook page www.Facebook.com/JennySmedleyAngelWhisperer






All written content on this blog is the work of © Dawn Brierley, Life Coach, Wiccan, Intuitive Angel Therapist, Tarot Lover & Mentor