Ana Cortez: Wide Awake and Dreaming

SACRED ORACLE

2010-12-08T14:14:00.000-08:00

Help! I'm Dreaming!

2010-12-02T08:04:00.000-08:00

Here I am in Santa Fe, in my lovely casa fria. Hardly anything has gotten done around here. You see, I'm helpless in the grip of a new card reading - a combination between a "game" and a reading given in a dream on Thanksgiving morning.

Still within it's hazy grasp, I woke from the dream and grabbed my deck of cards from the bedside table - laying out cards in formation on the sheets. It was a gigantic spread (36 cards) and I knew if I did not lay them out then and there the game would be lost. I lay back down after a time (it was a holiday after all!), closed my eyes and re-entered the feeling of the dream. Forgotten nuances tippy toed back into my conscious mind. Still there were holes - questions regarding the spread. It seemed I was given the most important points and the rest was for me to piece together, like a puzzle with multiple layers.

It's been a week now, and cards swirl 'round in my head on a daily basis. No, this is not unusual for me, but it has turned from a manageable flurry to a down-right blizzard. "Oh well!" said Alice (or is my name Ana?), "The world can wait. After all, it is cold outside and I like my house good and messy."

The layout can be seen on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcJlq2g8vdY

ANCIENT ALIENS IN EGYPT

2010-11-10T14:18:00.000-08:00

Ancient Egypt is synonymous with cats. The great Sphinx is depicted as a hybrid being: part cat, part human. Cats were revered as sacred. Cat-like eyes appear in the depictions of people. But does this point to more than a fetish for these furry felines? Could this be a clue into the nature of aliens in Egyptian history?

In answering this question it is interesting to note that Egyptians were particularly interested in the astronomy of the star Sirius. Multiple signs of this have been discovered, including perfect astronomical alignments of pyramid features to Sirius.

Now we come to a connection. Numerous people who claim to have been visited by Sirians (including Astarte!) have described them as cat-like. Photos depicting visitations appear with mysterious, misty cat features.

This begs the question: Could Sirian beings have visited Egypt? Is it possible they even mixed with the Egyptian race to produce hybrid DNA? Certainly humans possessing cat features might suggest this and may have been a pictorial clue left for us by Egyptians in their relics.

Were the rulers of Egypt super human by virtue of their supernatural DNA? Did they possess special knowledge and powers bestowed on them by their mixing with the Sirian race?????

Many cultures have written of their "Gods" from the sky having divine "relations" with human women to produce offspring with special abilities. Could these be more than myths? Is it a coincidence that modern day accounts of mysterious pregnancies purportedly associated with extra-terrestrial encounters abound as well? Is this the same phenomenon? Are extra-terrestrials inserting their DNA purposely into the human race?

When discussing this connection between the Sirians and Egyptians over the telephone with my good friend Astarte, we simultaneously (as it often happens for us) received multiple waves of very strong "downloads." Very exciting!!! I have come to understand these waves of spine-tingling energy as my guides in spirit shouting "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

The supernatural exists amoung us. It is a reality, not a fantasy. I believe we all possess abilities beyond what our "rational" minds allow us to think. Is it possible there is a little supernatural DNA that has been mixed in and passed down to all of us, just waiting for activation? And just what would it take to activate it?

That, dear reader, I will leave to your very own fantastic imagination.....

NEW PREDICTIONS

2010-11-08T10:28:00.000-08:00

I have been given two predictions I am going to share with you. Both were given in dream state, which is where I receive much of my information and assistance.

Number one, I was shown the 4 of Spades. Suddenly, my ordinary dream was interrupted and I was shown a deck of cards. The hands holding them jerked and a small number of cards fell from the deck. I know from experience how powerful it is when cards are given like this. You don't ask, and yet there they are. Quickly I scrambled to see the cards that fell and they only allowed me to see one: the 4 of Spades.

Speaking in cards is as comfortable to me as speaking English so this was a strong message indeed: however, cards are a cheshire game. Always there is room for interpretation or intuition to fill in space. In this instance, this card is a message of a rough ride ahead, a powerful influx of energies that will either shatter you or make you more powerful. Beware of the old luxuries of idle directing of thoughts, negativity, or otherwise mis-managing your energy. The 4 of Spades calls for all your resources, and all your karma to be reconciled.

According to recent government data, three very large solar flares occurred consecutively, on the 4th, 5th and 6th of this month (November 2010). Be prepared to notice your issues presenting themselves in 3D! This is all for clearing, as massive amounts of energy are raising the frequencies and the old, low frequency garbage will be coming up so we can release it. GIVE THANKS AND LET IT GO!!! Breathe it all out!!!! Trust in the intelligence of the universe. Also interesting that the prophecies came in the wee hours between the 5th and the 6th.

I mentioned I was given two prophecies. The other was the date of May 5th (5/5 - the number of change). This is interesting and also connected with the 4 of Spades. They showed me the card and the date were basically so much the same that in the dream I could not differentiate between the date and the card. I say interesting because last year I was given the date of May 5th (!) and it turned out to be a biggie. I did a reading for it as the date was approaching and they showed me fire and banks. That was the day of the riots in Greece over the economy where the rioters actually burned down a bank. How more "right on" can you get? Also that day there was a massive solar flare (also a fire element occurrence) surpassing all solar flare activity for several months time. Solar flares are all about amping up energy voltages here on earth, big energy influxes that create lots of 4 of Spades type experiences.

So hold on and get ready for riding that bucking bronco of big shift - and don't say I didn't tell you so!.

TRUSTING INTUITION

2010-10-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

I am learning to approach life as a listening exercise. It is my continuing practice to "tune in" to all that is in and around me, just receiving. I want to honor the intelligence of the present moment, and lean less and less on the "logic" of the thinking and planning "me" that has held tyranny over my existence for lifetime upon lifetime.
Now I am here.
This morning brought an incident that confirmed so beautifully the wisdom in trusting instinct over logic.
Here's how it went.
I found myself at the gas station, as I have been planning to do this for a while since returning from a lengthy drive. Knowing my car as I do, I also knew that my oil would be low after my trip and had been planning to get both gas and oil in one efficient Phillips 66 swoop.
The morning was gorgeous. The temperature perfect and the sun shining. There was almost no one else at the station.
I got the pump going and sat back in my car, thinking about the oil. I needed to go inside the station to get it. Hmmm....
I didn't feel like it. I couldn't exactly explain it. "Tuning in" as I do, sometimes I will not go inside a gas station if I get any inkling of not feeling safe. This was sort of like that, and yet there were no other cars pulled up at the gas station so logic was not giving me any support.
"I should just go in," I told myself. "It's the perfect time to just go buy a can of oil."
I went to get out of my car and felt a subtle but noticeable resistance. I didn't feel like going.
"Okay. I am willing to honor my feeling." I thought to myself. "My car will probably be alright if I get oil sometime later."
I just sat in my car, trying to stay out of my head and just enjoy the experience of the present moment. I surrendered to just watching the numbers flip on the pump.
As I watched the gallon count nearing where I knew the capacity of my tank to be, I heard a new sound. It was the sound of gas pouring on the ground. I jumped out of my car and pulled the nozzle from my tank which was continuing to spout gas even though the tank was full.
Gas was everywhere.
I was finally able to manually shut the gas off and went into the gas station to let them know about the faulty nozzle. I felt fire in my blood but managed to remain kind and calm with the clerk behind the counter.
Driving away I had a realization. Had I not followed my instinct to stay in the car, as illogical as it seemed, I surely would have been inside the gas station when the tank reached full. Who knows how long the gas would have been spouting all over my car and the ground beneath my car.
Wow.
Not always do incidents such as this make sense to my mind so quickly in the aftermath, but it was great to have a good confirmation.

THANK YOU UNIVERSE!!!!

Predictions: George Clooney and Italian Girlfriend

2010-10-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

Everyday Oracles - far from ordinary!

2010-09-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

Photo by Greg Backlund

"Symbols are oracular forms - mysterious patterns creating vortices in the substances of the invisible world. They are centers of a mighty force, figures pregnant with an awful power, which, when properly fashioned, loose fiery whirlwinds upon the earth."

- Manly P. Hall, Lectures on Ancient Philosophy, p. 356.

So my question to you, dear reader, is what symbols or "oracular forms" are making their way into your world???

DREAMING, ALWAYS DREAMING

2010-09-22T15:42:00.000-07:00

Last night I was dreaming. I dreamed I was petting my cat and having a nice visit with the darling I adore so dearly. Then I realized, my cat has passed away - struck by a car just two weeks ago. That I know for certain. I remember burying her in the back yard, her darling little ears filling with dirt as we filled the grave.
But this feels so real!!! The smell of her beautiful fur, the way she stretches out when I pet her. Could this really be a dream? It must be, I reason with myself. As perfect as it all is - indeed, indiscernible from waking reality - the fact remains that my cat has passed away and here she is, coddling my senses in 3-D.
Now I have an opportunity. I KNOW I am dreaming....... ahhhh.... Thank you, Kitty. Suddenly alive in this playground of imagination I pose the question to myself - NOW WHAT????

All possibilities exist here. I can walk into the future, into the past, simply by my wish. "As you say, so it shall be" can be experienced here.

I make a wish. After all, it's my dream, right? But alas, I can feel the resistance of the dream even as I am stating my command. No, this particular wish will not be realized in this dream.

Now I have the question: Why am I able to manifest some of my desires and not others? Could this be the same thing that happens in life? Why are some of my wishes realized and others not?

We are complex creatures, not a unified presence. We have many desires, many interests, and a wide palette of dreams. Some are in alignment, some not - some are a part of our conscious awareness, others prefer to stay submerged in the subconscious. Certain desires require certain amounts of personal power or unification of power in order to manifest. Becoming a successful rock star, for example, requires more personal power than producing a bowl of ice cream. And for some, becoming a rock star is a far simpler task than becoming an accountant.

So again, I return to my dream. Now I have a plan for the next time I find myself awake within this alternate reality, so ripe for experimentation. It helps to have a plan.

HEALING

2010-07-20T16:21:00.000-07:00

I AWAKE.
VAULTS AND MORE VAULTS
CORRIDORS AND AN ECHO OF FOOTSTEPS
SECRETS HELD
HEAVY DOORS AND ONE SKELETON KEY.

AND NOW THE RANCID, MUSTY INHALANTS
LONG HELD IN DARK SPACES
PENETRATE MY LUNGS
AND I PARTAKE OF THE POISON.
DUST COVERED CURSES.

I WRETCH AND I SCREAM ALOUD
I WEEP AND I STRIKE OUT
AT PHANTOMS AND FLASHING REFLECTIONS.

TONGUES, COLD AND HARD,
TURN STEAMY AND AGILE
AT THE SOUND OF WHISPERED INCANTATIONS:
ALL THE NUANCES HELD WITHIN ONE TIME-STOPPING BELCH
OF VENOMOUS VAPOR.

THE DEAD CANNOT HIDE
THEIR STORIES
ANYMORE.

- ANA CORTEZ ©

Boost your INTUITION

2010-06-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

Passing of Oracle Artist C.J. Freeman

2010-06-15T11:17:00.000-07:00

dislike for paint brushes
C.J. Freeman 1941-2010

A quick message to fill in for my recent absence from the blog. My father, Oracle artist C.J. Freeman passed away on June 6th. His passing was sudden although his health had been declining for some time.
He will be missed by many. If ever there was an original, it was my father.
I am handling his affairs which has been quite a task and so my absence from the blog...
My commitment to the work of the ORACLES continues, deepened and strengthened by my father's passing.

To those I love
Be assured when I fly with the angels
I dream of you.

Preparation for 2012 and Your Card Reading Practice.

2010-05-14T07:17:00.000-07:00

When speaking about preparation for 2012 I get interesting responses from different people. For some, no preparation is required at all. It is just another trip to the movies. For others, it is about stock piling food and supplies for some kind of apocalyptic scenario. And yet what is at the heart of this looming date?
2012 was calculated by the Mayan and other ancient civilizations and prophets as a time of great shift: The end of an old world and the beginning of a new. Chaos is foretold as familiar societal and planetary structures crumble, giving way to new, higher frequencies.
Whether you believe the prophecies or not, we can at least concede these are strange times, indeed. Global events are accelerating and intensifying as we enter a period of climate change, gigantic solar storms, and societal destabilization. What the new form of things will be as we become acclimatized to this vibratory makeover has yet to be seen and creates a feeling of unrest as we anticipate the unknown. Never before has such a transition as this been seen on our dear planet.
So back to the question of preparation.... And why oh why am I talking about this on a blog dedicated to the infinitely more simple (seemingly!) topic of Card Reading????
As we transition into a time of what Mayan Shamans are referring to as "the Fifth Age," the best and truly only preparation is one of frequency preparation. Once you give yourself the rub-down energetically, you will also be in tune with your own guidance, intuition, and natural, God-given GPS system. You will know what to do and when to do it.
What is your practice for energy alignment? Do you do it every day?
I have a number of my own practices (which I discuss periodically on the Astarte and Inanna Show on youtube), but what I want to talk about now is how to incorporate your Card Reading Practice.
The Playing Cards were created in accordance with natural and powerful energetic codes. The same energetics that the Mayans understood and used to create their calendar and calculate the year 2012.
I plan to make some sort of comparison chart to map this all out, but here are a few of the basics: The Mayan Calendar wheel is based on 52 year cycles and it is on these cycles that the year 2012 was predicted. 52 is the total number of cards in the playing deck and has been for as far back as we can trace it (before Tarot, which was an alteration of the original deck.)
There were 13 months to the Mayan (logical when you remember there are 13 lunar cycles in one solar cycle) and also 13 number Gods or "13 bearers of numbers." Accordingly, there are exactly 13 cards or numbers in each suit of the playing cards (Ace thru King.) 13 cards in each of 4 suits = 52, the same as 13 lunar cycles each of 4 weeks and 4 seasons each of 13 weeks = 52 weeks in the year. Now we begin to understand why the numbers 52, 13, and 4 were sacred.
To the Mayan, the world was conceived as a great square with four directions, four "bearers of the year," or four Gods. The playing deck too, is a "great square," divided evenly into four suits that also correspond to the four directions, the four seasons of the year, and the four elements of nature. The Mayan were Masters of observation and conceived the nature of time as manifold circles, all meshing together perfectly as intricate cogs in some sort of mind-blowing clock.
I am not saying the deck is Mayan. I am not saying it is the same as the Mayan Calendar. It is, however; like the Mayan calendar in that it is a work of art based upon the observation of the natural world and the rhythms within it. And it is this that we must return to.
In the pursuit of true spirituality and our own personal destiny, we must eventually shake the dust off of the knowledge of who we are. Try as we might, we will never be able to make ourselves into what we are not. The only thing awaiting us is The Return.
So this is how the study of your Playing Deck can become a part of your own sacred preparation for the accelerated frequencies making their way to planet Earth. It is a practice in alignment, a sacred study of natural frequency codes that the moon, sun, and seasons must dance to, and so must we. In this practice, we undertake nothing less than the reintegration and healing of our collectively scattered soul, a sacred meditation on crystalline structures put into card form. Now is the Time.
As I mentioned in my related video, hang out with your Playing Cards and look at them as if you've never seen them before - as if you knew they were a book of knowledge, and watch the secrets unfold :-)
P.S. Get the book! What are you waiting for? (The Playing Card Oracles)

2012, Energy Shift, and Your Card Reading Practice

2010-05-14T07:01:00.001-07:00

This video is part 1 of 5. The remaining portions can be found in the 52cardmagic channel on youtube.

Kahlil Gibran, The Tides of Breath

2010-04-28T17:28:00.000-07:00

You are not enclosed within your bodies,
nor confined to houses or fields.
That which is you dwells above the mountain
and roves with the wind.

It is not a thing that crawls into the sun for warmth
or digs holes into darkness for safety.
But a thing free,
a spirit that envelopes the Earth
and moves in the ether...
This would I have you remember
in remembering me.

That which seems most feeble
and bewildered in you
is the strongest and most determined.

Is it not your breath that has erected and hardened
the structure of your bones?
And is it not a dream
which none of you remember having dreamt,
that builded your city and fashioned
all there is in it?

Could you but see the tides of breath
you would cease to see all else,
and if you could hear the whispering of the dream
you would hear no other sound.

- Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

One of my favorite quotes of all time... it is works like this that inspire me to write, when I feel the power of words to send me like this. Maybe I love this poem so dearly because I am a Gemini, an Air sign. That being what it is, I am also strongly aligned with the Club suit in the deck of cards, the suit symbolizing Air. I used this quote from Gibran in my introduction to the Club suit in The Playing Card Oracles, because I feel it so aptly and eloquently describes the spirit of these cards. In these trying times, most especially, how valuable it is to recall our eternal nature, our oneness with "the ethers..."
If you would like more information on the Elements and the Card Suits, see my youtube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7rOxWYAIHc
All blessings,
--Ana

HEALING.... THE FUTURE OF CARD READING

2010-04-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

Increasingly I am finding the Oracle Readings to be beyond what I ever originally fathomed them to be. I mean, I always knew it was cool to be able to "read" people and see that the cards actually did "work", also that maybe glimpsing into the future would somehow help people. Somehow in seeing what they were creating in their life they would see that they also had choices.
Now I am seeing something more. Something beyond what I saw before.
Lately, I have been finding the readings more and more transformative, in the sense of events actually SHIFTING for people after their reading, and I believe this is due to the way I have shifted the way I look at the cards in a reading.
And here it is.

I no longer look at the cards as "good" and "bad." In other words, the old "this forebodes a good outcome and this is a bad."
I have shifted to looking at all the cards as a gift - meaning all the circumstances in a person's life are PERFECT for them at that moment and it is the way they are viewing the circumstances given that is helping or hindering them. No more good cards, bad cards. No more good life, bad life.
This is very big.
EACH CARD HAS A GIFT TO BRING, just the same as each life circumstance. Each layout or circumstance has a unique set of energies with equally unique opportunities.
Are you really swallowing this?
Some cards have more obvious gifts than others, but that is my job as the reader.... to find the OPPORTUNITY in the card layout, the POSITIVE course of action given the ENERGIES at play in that person's life. The energies are what they are (for the moment, anyway). It is the perception where personal power enters in.
Once I give PERMISSION for the person to be experiencing what they are experiencing, patterns of distress are released and situations shift of their own. The situation has been freed.

This is a way of looking at life that I have found for myself, that is now translating into my readings: Acceptance and Gratitude for WHAT IS. My opportunities are here, they are now.
The results of such a way of looking at life is translating into tangible and happy results for my clients - as it has for myself.
Although there is no way to follow up with everyone, the people I have followed up with express that often the very next day after a reading something profound shows up within the situation they were consulting me about. Often a real bone-cracker but sometimes just a feeling like, oh... that's not a problem anymore!!!! Why did I need that reading so bad?!!!
For the people I have not had the blessing of following up with, it is a knowing. I KNOW the readings are a force for shift. I feel it. I feel the person's situation shifting in ME as I am doing the reading. The new standard is the reading is not complete until I feel this shift.
Now wrap your head around this: What I am now starting to grasp is that even once a reading is scheduled the shift begins happening. Simply in anticipation of the reading (premonition?), by the time the appointment time comes the pressure has already been released from the situation.

Open your mind to a reading as a healing. Why should it be anything less?????
It is real. It is the future of card reading.

PLAYING CARD ORACLE LESSONS NOW ONLINE!

2010-04-01T09:47:00.000-07:00

It has long been my dream to bring The Playing Card Oracles to more and more people, in a very practical sense. I would love to see The Playing Cards recognized and being USED by people everywhere in the way they were originally intended. This is the return to our personal power through our alignment with the natural and powerful rhythms of Creation.
SO.....
This is the plan....
Videos will be posted on youtube and accessible through the video bar on this site under the user account 52cardmagic. My goal is to post a new video once a week. The first teaching video is there now, in 3 parts, called Card Reading Mastery. This is what you are learning as you master the playing deck. It will include things from the book, The Playing Card Oracles, although it will include things that are not in the book, as well.
ALSO.....
I AM AVAILABLE FOR PRIVATE, ONLINE INSTRUCTION. This is through SKYPE or via email. Please email me at ana@anacortez.org for appointments and rates.
Thank you especially to all the very devoted fans of The Playing Card Oracles over these years since the book was published. Your support has kept me going.
Love,
-- Ana

Asking the Question, part 2

2010-03-31T19:58:00.000-07:00

"...When people want to know if they can ask a general question, I ask if they want a general answer. Like begets like with the cards. Similarly, it is interesting to notice where the person's inquiry is coming from. Is it from their gut or their head? A burning question is a world away from one asked out of mild curiosity. Surface questions get surface answers. Real questions invite the cards to speak."
(from The Playing Card Oracles, A Source Book for Divination, p. 109)

Asking the Question, part 1

2010-03-15T13:03:00.000-07:00

This is the beginning of a short series quoted from my book, The Playing Card Oracles, A Source Book for Divination. The information could as easily be applied to any type of divination: Tarot, Playing Cards, I Ching, Runes, etc... I take a breath, open the book, and give to you, dear reader, this passage for today:

(From the sub-chapter, Asking the Question, p.109) "...One of the best ways to be of service (with the cards) is to help people phrase their concerns in a way that works in harmony with the nature of the cards. The Playing Deck, and oracles in general, function with profound, childlike simplicity and will reflect the inquiry in just such a manner. Complicated or ambiguously stated questions do not evoke the magic of the cards. Make sure the wording you choose is clear, simple, and direct, and the answer you receive will be the same. Beware of two-part questions disguised as a single inquiry. Break multi-faceted concerns down into components in order to get a clear response. If you're doing smaller readings, it's better to do separate layouts for each aspect of the question than to glob issues together." (to be continued next week..)

--Ana Cortez, The Playing Card Oracles - Painting by Remedios Varo

Your Personal Edge

2010-03-02T15:57:00.000-08:00

If I am to truly become master of myself, I must know my limits. That is to say, when do I push myself and when do I draw back - in other words, "HOW DO I EXPAND?"
As a rule, we do not know our own limits because ordinary life rarely calls us to the edge. Those who live on the edge are exceptional. Olympic athletes are one example of people who we can see have gone to their personal edge, to the lonely nether land of what is actually possible in a human being.
For myself, these visits to my own outer limits are, as a rule, uncomfortable. Often they have been instigated by events that seemed traumatic or beyond my control. During moments of extreme "edge walking" I have even wondered if I would survive the journey.
In this place we either triumph big time or we are eaten alive.
Here I cannot help but reminisce on the recent events around famed spiritual leader James Ray, who encouraged people to challenge their limits only to lose three people in fatality. How much is too much? And yet we MUST challenge ourselves - while remaining sensitive to our own well being.

I like to do an hour and a half of yoga once a week in a hot as hell room to challenge my comfort zone and get that big time pay off. But once a week is generally enough for me and I know that. I have even left the room during class when I felt it was too hot for me. The teacher did not like that. Too bad.
The journey of spirit warrior is about becoming SENSITIVE to energy within YOURSELF. This is the same kind of sensitivity that leads to heightened psychic awareness, healing ability and all reaches of possibility. Some type of meditative practice will help you prepare for tuning in to sensitive energies. This is a skill you will be glad to have on the edge.
Finding my own personal limit has now become a way of being for me, a sort of lifestyle. It is not so obvious, like an Olympic athlete, because that is not my area. My areas are my own and yet I look for these edges I am called to find. Then I set off once more, with some measure of kicking and screaming on the inside, yet all the while tuning in to my own well being. It's weird but I am starting to crave these expansive yet uncomfortable experiences. There is no better place to discover who I truly am and that is a very cool pay off.

Present Moment Miraculous

2010-02-19T15:45:00.000-08:00

Always a discipline to choose the proper topic for the blog. I like to capture something very close to the present. Something cathartic yet helpful. It is my meditation.
Today I will write as I wrote my latest book, The Teacher Within. That is, staying intimately and fiercely connected to the present moment. From this place of magic where I found room to breath and expand, I write.
A bit like stream of consciousness, only connected.
My dog just farted.
Oops. A little stream of consciousness enters the page!!! Hard to ignore my dog's farts.
Still breathing (amidst the fumes) I trust that I will be called to the appropriate words for my readers and for myself. This is a practice I can take into my daily life - into housework and phone calls - and penetrate the usual surface of life, dipping into depths of present moment miraculous.
This is the same way I approach my Oracle Reading practice and Reconnective Healing practice, as well. The present moment is the place where I am helpful, where my life begins.

Card Reading and Synchronicity

2010-02-13T13:29:00.000-08:00

The other day I gave an Oracle Reading that was very illuminating of the expansive nature of the art of divination. I touched on this in my first book (The Playing Card Oracles) in the sub-chapter called The Reflective World (p.181). To quote myself, "We are electric, magnetic, and dynamic beings, and we attract as well as affect our surroundings... The cards are just one part of what I am paying attention to (in a reading)."
In the particular session I am referring to, we came to a point in the reading when the client asked about her Spirit Helpers. As she was verbalizing the question to me (it was a telephone reading) I saw a shadow pass by the window of my house through the curtains. My two dogs started barking. They saw it too. Continuing with the reading, I fanned the Playing Card Oracle deck in front of me, face down, and drew three cards - they all turned up Court Cards (representing people or personalities), a very slim probability. Three Spirit Helpers.
Well the dogs quit barking and there was never any trace of anyone coming past my house - no knock at the door, nothing left outside. Just a confirmation of a spirit for the reading.
When I am doing a reading, I am in a state of receiving information and guidance. This is not limited to the cards on the table. I believe that nothing is random. If I did not embody a firm conviction of this then all kinds of doubt could enter in each time I lay out the cards.
Divination is the sacred art of connecting to all things and receiving that wisdom on behalf of another. I am honored to be a part of that tradition.

2010-02-11T16:32:00.000-08:00

"With great humility, presence, humor and a poet's paintbrush- Ana Cortez
invites us into the very intimate life of the Soul. For both beginners and
seasoned travelers alike, 'The Teacher Within' is a delightful and very
creative illumination of the great and beautiful Journey we are each called
to. I found it a joy and a balm."

Rev. Jenni Walker
Interfaith Minister and Spiritual Director

Unstoppable Expansive Nature of Healing

2010-01-29T14:49:00.000-08:00

Energy of Reconnective Healing captured with my cell phone camera,
although since the time of this photo
it is appearing in lavendar hue.

So great. I get to experience the healing, the zing, and uplift of transformation every time I meet with a client. Maximum healing sessions for me! Healing is not a solitary experience. True healing is born of love and the nature of love is expansion.
Just like when you give someone a gift from your heart. The giver and the receiver are blessed. Then it is all ripple effect from there, touching people, places, events never imagined and yet perfectly flowing naturally from a true experience of love.
YES!!! A card reading can do all this. Combined with energy healing work (Reconnective Healing is my practice) it is EXPONENTIAL. Zing-a-ding ding!!!
La la la la la la la la la
See you la la later.....

REAL CARD READING MAGIC

2010-01-22T17:51:00.001-08:00

In seeking to deepen the connection to my clients, my art, and to the healing I am able to offer, I have come upon a new realization in regard to my work as a card reader, or as I have come to call myself, an Oracle Reader.

As I stated in my book, The Playing Card Oracles, A Source Book for Divination, "without you the cards are meaningless pieces of paper. The magic is in you." It is interesting how many layers I have discovered for myself in this truth.

I have come to see the magic of the reading as the ability to gain access to the secret, sacred parts of a person. The person allows you in - to parts where they have confusion or pain, parts that are private and hidden... sometimes from every other person in their life. As a reader you are given a key.

Tip toeing through kingdoms that cry out for healing and understanding, I traverse. I use my cards as cues on how to approach these delicate areas, and also open myself to any other means or method gained from my own personal challenges in healing as appropriate. The cards are one of my tools. They open a conversation. Without my own healing experience to back them I have nothing to give.

This is incredible for myself as a reader because it means I have the opportunity to step into the shoes of healer in the broadest sense. I am more that just a peek into the future, a psychic predictor of events to come... I am that and much much more. I allow the HEALING of the future. I HEAL the past (yes! that's right!) - all by healing with my client, one-on-one, in the present moment.

WOW.

2010 Predictions are out!!

2010-01-22T17:44:00.000-08:00

For my 2010 Predictions see the Home Page (navigate from side bar) or click on http://www.anacortez.com.

NEW BOOK RELEASE, The Teacher Within by Ana Cortez

2010-01-22T17:35:00.000-08:00

Just Published!!!! and available now at http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-teacher-within/6241824

Read a review at http://www.saturness.blogspot.com

"...So please dear reader, won't you lend me a hand, and loose those tired thoughts which to you have become like dry land, and allow me to fasten sweet buoys to your heart strings?"
--Ana Cortez, The Teacher Within, Enraptured Ranting and Other Tales

ORACLE READER/ New Product Feature

2009-12-07T17:55:00.000-08:00

http://www.zazzle.com/oracle_reader_poster-228599078342349121

This is one of Oracle artist C.J. Freeman's lesser known works, and is now available as a poster from Zazzle.com.
click the url above to go directly to view and also check out other new Playing Card Oracle PRODUCTS (like tote bags, tee-shirts, mouse pads, and much more).

HAPPY HOLIDAYS :-)

Readings on All Hallows Eve

2009-10-28T07:37:00.000-07:00

So pleased to be reading The Playing Card Oracles this coming holiday weekend at both Ten Thousand Waves Spa and Resort here in Santa Fe and also the Mayor's Ball.
Have been busy preparing my "costume" i.e., repairing my old gypsy attire, adding an incredible gypsy headpiece I found in Albuquerque (at Old World Imports) and a new spiffy cloth for the card reading table.
If you can make it to Ten Thousand Waves, I'll be there from 1:00 to 4:00 on Saturday the 31st (the readings will be complementary!) and if you are already planning to attend the Mayor's Ball, look for me there!
Otherwise, I'll be at Annapurna World Vegetarian Cafe, as usual, Friday afternoon from noon to 2:30.

2009-10-08T14:38:00.001-07:00

Abstraction White Rose

I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life - and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do. - Georgia O'Keeffe

Went to the O'Keeffe museum in Santa Fe, NM today. To me this rose is brilliantly cosmic. Simple, astounding, engaging - cosmic. I will even go so far as to say that this painting is a symbol of how I wish my life to be: soft, fluid, lucid. In it I see glimmering light partnered with mysterious depths.
Thank you, Georgia - wherever you may be...

New Frequencies and Electronic Malfunction

2009-10-03T18:48:00.000-07:00

Wow. Following the Playing Card Oracle class today at Annapurna in Santa Fe (which was beautiful and strongly guided by Spirit start to finish – thank you everyone who attended!!!!) I have been experiencing multitudes of electronic malfunctions in the extreme. These I have come to recognize as definitive messages signaling the presence of high level frequencies. These frequencies are making their way onto the planet at this time to align us with the planetary shifts that are occurring and prepare us for what is yet to come.

We are making our way from old to new, although what the new will be is not yet clear and yet we must prepare. The preparation is an attunement. From this attunement all else will follow.

Since I feel this message to be of urgency I will relate in some detail some of what has been occurring if only to assist you.

Maybe you, too, have had experiences that are similar.

Numerous phone calls have come in on my cell phone which has been no more than three feet from me at any point and yet my phone does not ring or vibrate even though I have checked and re-checked all the settings. Times for phone calls coming in do not match the times that messages were left from those phone calls. I cannot reach anyone. I have had the phone in the same place in my house that I normally keep it.

My iPod started playing by itself and when I picked it up to look at it, a particular song in Portuguese was playing called Aganju. Curious, I looked on the internet for the meaning of the word. Turns out it is not a Portuguese word but the name of the African Volcano God who is noted for his incredible strength, for bringing about drastic change, as well as overcoming obstacles and building societies.

Wow.

That’s not all. While one screen on the iPod showed the name Aganju as the song that was playing (and it was the song that was playing), a different screen insisted that the same song was called Let My Love Open the Door (by Pete Townsend). Huh??? Another malfunction. NOT!

I have had three readings in the last two days all for people who have incredible, indeed phenomenal healing abilities and are channeling through the suffering of the world only to heal it. I have never seen anything like this. These people as well as many others are just coming to acknowledge and recognize their own abilities.

These are incredible times. The gloves are coming off, folks.

In the frequency,

--Ana

Thank You, Kim!!!

2009-09-18T17:18:00.000-07:00

One of my students and also friend, Kim Cady, has been so kind as to post an article on her blog about my intuitive work and her own family history of divination using playing cards. Thank you so much Kim!! :-) http://kimcady.blogspot.com/2009/09/ana-cortez-openeyed-dreaming.html

2009-09-06T20:06:00.000-07:00

The Playing Card

-Oracles-

Secrets of the Regular Playing Cards Revealed!

Join with other pioneering individuals in uncovering the esoteric treasures encoded

for safe-keeping centuries ago in the deck we know as Playing Cards. NOW is the time

ordained for their re-emergence as WE re-awaken to our true nature and purpose.

Meet Author Ana Cortez in Santa Fe, NM

Saturday, October 3rd, 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., $25

To Reserve Your Space Call Blessings at: 505-629-1136

Keeper of Secrets

2009-08-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

There is a time and place for all things. Including the dissemination of truth.

Recently I have been asked to keep a secret. No, I’m not telling.

Now I recognize that I actually keep a number of secrets on a regular basis. It is a greater part of my occupation as a card reader.

“Keeper of Secrets” might be a better job title.

Complete strangers take a seat across the table from me and within moments we are addressing their innermost concerns, the secrets held in their heart.

Very little small talk.

How refreshing.

Then the person leaves my table and so with them leaves my memory of our conversation. No ties to anything.

Having a safe place to divulge a secret provides great relief in itself.

In service only do I seek the loving response from a place of non-investment in your personal situation.

Such a place of honor.

Thank you,

--Ana Cortez

anacortezreadings.blogspot.com

Ana Cortez Newsletter

2009-06-16T16:17:00.000-07:00

Excerpt from the Ana Cortez June 2009 Newsletter

The Five of Hearts

Choosing the card for the subject of The Ana Cortez Newsletter has become part of my practice of listening to the world and receiving its messages. Finding the perfection in that which is given provides me a great feeling of peace. Last month’s selection, the King of Spades, was not chosen by me, but rather brought to my attention – likewise with this month’s choice, The Five of Hearts. This is a card I have personally grappled with since the beginning of my time as a reader of playing cards, ‘round about 1982. This undoubtedly corresponds to the complexity and layers of dream like experience this card represents. (To read the remainder of this article please email me at ana@anacortez.org and I will reply with the full newsletter attached) Image © C.J. Freeman, The Playing Card Oracles

2009-03-02T10:42:00.000-08:00

excerpt from Feb/March 2009 Ana Cortez Newsletter
copyright Ana Cortez 2009

Healing and… Chocolate!

Receiving a position at Kakawa Chocolate House in Santa Fe, NM I count as one of my more recent, larger sized gifts from Spirit. Kakawa is owned by a chocolate historian and serves up the past daily in the form of drinkable chocolate elixirs. One could forget where one is - ingesting thick, earthy, Mesoamerican elixirs dating to 1000 B.C. or sipping Marie Antoinette’s favorite orange blossom, chocolate, and cinnamon brew.

Daily I observe as customers are transported by chocolate infusions, stirred by the experience of that magic brown substance.

The people that work here are the priests and priestesses of “the bean” (or Kakawa, the Mayan word for chocolate), not only making all the chocolate served, but consulting with each customer to find just the right blend of soul medicine. It is an intuition building experience, choosing among the myriad of recipes available on any given day: flowers, herbs, chilies, nuts, oils, milks, and nectars…. parallels in history…

As my manager (head priestess) so aptly put it… Kakawa is at the center of the universe. The transformation ensuing for each person who mingles with the energy of Kakawa is truly something to behold… not always comfortable. At times I have felt that here in this little shop we are processing the history and stories for all humanity and that ultimately we will all be carried into a place of new understanding and peace on a river of drinking chocolate.

Chocolate lifts us into a multi-sensual euphoria supported by the love chemicals it arouses in the body - and lures us to remain. I have conceived my role here as healer - reaching across time and blending all with pure brown love. Even The Playing Card Oracles have found a home here on Friday afternoons with readings by Ana Cortez. ©

2009-01-19T18:42:00.000-08:00

"Year of Awakening, Transition, and Casting Off"

CLICK HERE
to view the first edition of
The Ana Cortez Newsletter (Jan/09)

Please email me at ana@anacortez.org if you wish to receive future editions of the newsletter.

Prepare for Card Reading Mastery

2009-01-08T10:56:00.000-08:00

A lot has been happening since my move to NM. Grooving to a whole new flow. The pace is very different down here and I am experiencing a whole new way of being. So far so good. Kind of like surfing a wave.
On the brink of unveiling a new teaching tool for The Playing Card Oracles (my book) which is called Card Reading Mastery. It is what it says and will include CD's, a video, and small book.
Nothing else like it. There will be announcements so no worries.
The art of card reading is about to jettison to a whole new level. Viva la playing cards!!!
Oh yes, for a personal reading with me go to anacortez.org and then the Readings link. Lately I have found that combining a reading with the healing described on the Healing link page is particularly wonderful for shifting energy and bringing in a new perspective. I can put them both into one half-hour session if you request it.

Angel at Bosque del Apache

2008-10-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

angel at bosque del apache

this picture shocks me every time i look at it, think about it, marvel upon it.
taken by me at the bosque del apache bird refuge in southern new mexico.
sun was setting and just snapping photos of birdies in the distance with my camera phone. clouds were amazing, nothing unusual for new mexico. and then, SHE appeared. if you turn this picture 90 degrees clockwise, you will see the angel that came to visit.
several other people on the pier overlooking the water and the birds and sky at this time, but no one seemed to notice HER. She was there for me and my companion alone. as we were walking away from the pier, the many birds in and over the water made an amazing amount of noise as if to say good bye, and as soon as we had reached the gravel SHE was nowhere to be seen, receding back into the ethers.
this photo is not photoshoped in any way nor altered in any way and is, in fact, a crap quality photo direct from my camera phone (good as far as camera phones go).

enchanted

2008-09-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

Gotland, Sweden, 400-600 AD, burial site

a most magical journey, to an enchanted land.... women everywhere, unraveling their stories, forging the tools that we carry on our sacred return... colors flying, drums soft thunder, song streaming, tears but watering the dry earth, seeds are sown and ashes honored.
and then, a gift appears... one of many, crawling to me like a serpent, smiling.

back in my familiar hovel once again, i search and aha!! i find. as before.
above is the depiction of parting gift i received so unexpectedly, so perfectly, so enchanted... of course. Thanks Clem.

2008-08-12T18:25:00.000-07:00

"THE LOVE THAT YOU WITHHOLD
IS THE PAIN THAT YOU CARRY,
LIFETIME AFTER LIFETIME."

- Alex Collier (from encounter with interplanetary being)

tarot has an older sister

2008-07-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

Can you guess what I am???

I am an esoteric treasure chest disguised as an ordinary household object, slipping with the greatest of ease through epochs of time.

I am underneath your very own nose, and indeed, between your very own fingertips.

I transcend the borders of nationality, language and beliefs, too invisible and too insidious to fall prey to those who would control the dissemination of real knowledge.

Have you guessed me yet?

Easily accessed in lavish royal chambers, homes of the poor, the cell of the jailed and the office of the warden, can you guess what I am?

Indeed, divine knowledge is merciful and cannot be shut out. There is truth for the asking – our human right, and have you guessed me yet???

I am the deck of playing cards.

A simple book of paper, pages unbound; absent of words yet intriguingly symbolic: unassuming. Let us step closer and direct our gaze for a moment at this demure muse, this seeming wallflower compared to its’ more flashy city cousin, the tarot.

...(The remainder of this article can be viewed at http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/little-book-secrets) -Jack of Hearts from The Playing Card Oracles deck by my dad, C.J.

2008-07-01T13:45:00.000-07:00

The Invitation (abridged)

2008-07-01T13:32:00.000-07:00

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon…
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstacy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us to be careful
be realistic
remember the limitations of being human.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon
"yes"

It doesn't interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
i want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself.
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.

-Orion Mountain Dreamer, painting by A. Andrew Gonzalez

Vibration creates form with David Icke

2008-07-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

2008-06-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

This is a crop circle created in South Korea on June 12th of this year. I love this image because, for one thing it is beautiful, and also it is so symbolic of the planetary cycles relevant to our earth. As such, it fits in beautifully with the numerology of the playing card deck. There is a wonderful break down of the symbology at this link: http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/inter2008/southkorea/southkorea2008.html

Basically, the outermost circle represents one full rotation of our earth around the sun, the dark earth representing the dark half of the year (with our moon) and the light earth representing the portion of our year in light. The four inner circles are the quarters of the year, or seasons, and the squiggly things that look like DNA represent cycles of the moon, with the smaller circles representing less than full figures. I think it is very interesting that if you stand in the same place every night and view the moon, one full cycle creates a full figure-8.
If you are into The Playing Card Oracles (my book, published by U.S. Games Systems) then go check out the link above, as it goes into further detail and really fits with all I have attempted to explain in the book.

footage by Japanese flight crew

2008-06-02T21:16:00.000-07:00

Are you looking up???

2008-05-31T11:36:00.000-07:00

This Spring I took a trip to the state of Bahia, Brazil. This was the most outstanding trip I can remember ever having taken. It was healing beyond expectation, eye opening, and just plain amazing. Oh, and beautiful too. Ocean, green, exotic....
You can see where I stayed at www.ayahuasca-healing.net

This is a photo of my little Brazilian Consortium...

now i am here

2008-05-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

This photo is by Zena Holloway.

of late, i find myself evermore immersed in multiple worlds, or should i say dimensions. to me, this is so beautifully symbolized by the mermaid.

here is a sample of recent writing, maybe part of a new book:
"I am salty like the sea, for from the sea I have come and to the sea I will return. In fact, I have
never left. I am a mermaid with legs. Do not be deceived by my ten toes. I am of the sea. Just because I have been tossed upon the land does not mean I have been forsaken. The sea lives in me. It rises and falls. Even my tears are made of salt, and when I go to sleep at night I am swimming once again. Do not be deceived by my ten toes. "©

just a sip for now....