Affirmations For Everyday Goddess

Affirmations For the Everyday Goddess
Spiritual Guidebook and 22 Wisdom Cards for Contemplation and Prayer
By Pamela Wells

Self-Published, 2009
(www.ArtmagicPublishing.com)

Review by James Ricklef © 2009

 

A few days ago I found myself wondering when my copy of “Affirmations For the Everyday Goddess” (AFEG) was going to arrive.  It had been about a week since Pamela Wells had notified me that she was mailing it to me, so I was anxiously anticipating its arrival. Then no sooner had these thoughts trickled through my head than the doorbell rang. It was the mailman – mail-woman actually, a substitute for our regular letter carrier, who is male – and she was delivering the package I had been thinking about. These “coincidences” were too auspicious to ignore, so I decided to review this book and deck set without delay, and here it is.

 

My first impression of this deck is of its artistic beauty. Not only are the card images all quite lovely, but with their golden borders and the exquisite card back image (which is of a spotted leopard in a lush jungle setting), the cards as a total package are a visual delight.  I’ve tried to pick my favorite painting in this little art-gallery-in-a-box, but I really cannot choose just one. A few highlights are the Strength card (where dazzling sunlight is filtering through a forest canopy to shine upon a woman flanked by a tiger and a leopard), the Temperance card (with a luminous angel and a background landscape bathed in the soft glow of twilight), and the Star card (with its serene, ethereal nightscape).

I also like the affirmations on the cards in all but one case. (I found the affirmation printed on the High Priest card to be too esoteric, but that may reflect my own way of creating and using affirmations.) My favorites are the ones on the Lovers card (“I see the Divine in myself reflected in another.”) and on the Justice card (which includes the phrase “I take full responsibility for my choices.”)  Of course, there is limited space on the cards for printed affirmations, but that’s where the accompanying booklet comes in. It provides fuller explanations of the cards’ symbolism and meaning, associated spiritual contemplations, and discussions that suggest other affirmations for the cards. For example, Wells has associated a short prayer with each card, which may be easily converted into an affirmation. As an example, I came up with an affirmation for the High Priest that I liked based on its prayer: “I am in touch with something greater than myself.”

 

The booklet that comes with this deck starts off with a valuable discussion about what affirmations are and how to use them in the context of these cards.  But its introductory remarks, as well as its discussions about the individual cards, go well beyond the expectations that one might have based on the title of this deck. Indeed, affirmations are only one facet of this book and deck set.

 

As stated in the AFEG booklet’s introduction, the purpose of this set includes helping people “to explore the mysteries of life’s meaning and purpose” and “to become more aware of who you are and what is meaningful to you within the framework of your spiritual and religious beliefs.” To accomplish this, it examines the archetypal energy of the cards, provides a framework for meditation and contemplation of them, and suggests exercises that will help you explore the cards’ spiritual meaning within the context of our mundane, material world.  And it includes an inspirational prayer to accompany each card.

 

To gain a little more insight into this deck, I dealt myself one card to see what it wanted to say to me at this time.  The card I got was Temperance, and the affirmation on that card reads: “May the Lord make me an instrument of peace.” I’ve transformed this into the following affirmation, which is in a more traditional style:

“I am an instrument of peace.”

 

Based in this, my initial impression is that this deck can be a way to find peace and serenity in my life. This card’s lovely garden setting also reminds me that I often find peaceful refuge from the strife and stress of life through gardening, which implies that this deck can have a similarly palliative effect.

 

Also, the prayer provided in the booklet for this card is: “May I see the invisible world and the visible world as one.”  What’s interesting about this is that, as noted above, the AFEG booklet provides exercises to help you explore the cards’ spiritual meaning within the context of the mundane, material world. Seeing this non-duality is an important spiritual step, and (as this prayer suggests), this book and deck set can help us take that step.

 

Finally, let me provide a few concluding remarks about the AFEG set.

 

First, I want to caution people about the title, “Affirmations For the Everyday Goddess.” I have already noted that affirmations are only one aspect of this book and deck set, perhaps even being secondary to its aspect of spiritual exploration and evolution. I would also like to say that the AFEG set, which is also billed as “Inner Guidance Cards for Women,” can certainly prove valuable for men as well as for women. I suspect that the set’s title may deter some men from considering it, though, which is unfortunate.

 

Secondly, although I believe that AFEG’s higher purpose is to function as a Hermit’s lantern that will illuminate your path along a spiritual journey, it certainly can be used for “traditional” Tarot readings if one wants to do “Majors only” readings. The cards are certainly evocative and archetypal enough on their own for such a use.

 

Miscellaneous technical specifications:

 

*  The back images are non-reversible.

*  Trim size:  4″ x 5.75″ box kit contains a 3.75″ x 5.5″ booklet (120 pages) and (24) 3.75″ x 5.5″ illustrated cards: 22 Major Arcana cards, a title card, and a Wisdom Card Prayer Guide.

*  The cards are of a nice, heavy cardstock that is pleasantly stiff and slick.
Caution: They stick together a bit at first, but that small problem quickly abates with just a little use.

*  Strength is 8 and Justice is 11

*  Renaming:
High Priest for Hierophant
Hanged One for Hanged Man

*  Retail Price:  $14.95