I was thrilled to get the Kindle Edition of this book, and it had to be COVID-19 Pandemic what allowed the project to be done. The first printed copy saw the light in 2001, and it has taken two decades to get to the digital edition on Kindle. It was time! In all honesty, I thought this would be another book on intuition, but it is not.
The Circle is a revamped version of the Law of Attraction (LOA) and The Circle is just a way of calling The Universe or the space where manifestation occurs. The book mixes concepts of the LOA with others of the Thought Church, Psychology, Intuition, Reiki and simple common sense.
MY HIGHLIGHTS> There
is a unwavering faith in the process and in humanity expressed through
the book, and this is one of the most positive takes for me.
> The section on rituals, what they are and why they are important in our lives.
> Some of the statements in the book:
-- "When you change yourself, you change the people and events around you." (loc 216)
-- "To a great extent, you are what you believe you are-and the world responds accordingly." (loc. 225).
-- "It requires far more energy to be ill or create a life out of balance
than it does to be well. Your internal structure wants to be well and
works towards health and balance whether or not you are helping." (loc
453).
-- "In times of stress, or when handling people or situations, you tend to
turn to one particular system by reflex, your default system. Your
default system is not necessarily your strongest." (Loc 470).
-- "When you analyse a lack of success in any aspect of your life, you
tend to look outside yourself for the explanation. Yet often the answer
is that you are getting in your own way." (loc 496).
-- "One way to discover what people fear is to see where they put their
focus and energy. Look at the perfectly put together person and realise
that person is probably afraid that he or she will fall apart." (loc
599).
-- "When you see and need, ask if you can fill it. When you have a need, ask that it be satisfied." (loc 781)
-- "So much of life is lived in the head. The human mind is a wonderful
place, but to create change, things need to be built in the physical
world." (loc 912).
THE CIRCLE SUMMARY
The process to tap into the Circle (Universe) and bring any wish into reality is structured as follows:
1/ Initiation:
> 1st element = Intentionality = The hidden gift is conscious creation.
> 2nd element = Embodiment = The gift is awareness.
> 3rd element = Ritual = The gift is sacredness.
In short, make a wish and put your intention behind and into it, embody the result you want to create, and make some ritual to start tapping into what you want your new reality to be.
2/ Apprenticeship:
> 4th element = Synchronicity = The gift is effectiveness.
> 5th element = Making Space = The gift is transformation.
> 6th element = Coherence = The gift is right action.
In short, pay attention to the synchronicities that reflect change in the outer world. Make space for the new to enter your life, and resolve any inner or outer conflict that prevents your goal to materialize. When you go through this realize that your initial wish might be other, so allow your wish to transform as you transform.
3/ Mastery:
> 7th element = Outer roadblocks = The gift is intuition.
> 8th element = Inner roadblocks = The gift is healing.
> 9th element = Contact = The gift is unity.
In
short, you'll find inner/outer resistance before getting your wish manifested. These obstacles are the right path to success but need to be
addressed. When you enter the energy of The Circle you are in oneness with everything and everyone. Be part of a group, a circle of like-minded people, who support each other and go through this process together.
OH BOY
>> The book as a chit-chatty godmother's preachy tone that, on the one hand, makes it easily readable and understandable, but, on the other, rest validity to what she says.
>> >> The writing style is unnecessarily repetitive and full of platitudes. The words The Circle and New Reality are repeated ad nauseam.
>> Many of the messages that Day conveys in the book are a verbose beautification of popular common-sense wisdom such as:
-- Life is unpredictable.
-- Go with the flow.
-- If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
-- What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.
-- There is a silver lining in every situation.
-- After reaching the bottom, the way is always up.
-- Everything depends on how you look at things: Is the bottle half full or half empty?
-- Let go to move on.
-- Get out of your own way.
-- Be careful of what you wish for.
-- Your unconscious rules your life.
-- Create a community of liked-minded people.
-- A candle doesn't lose its light by giving light to another candle.
-- Shine your inner light and give it as a gift to the world.
-- There is a lesson in everything.
>> Synchronicity, Serendipity and Good Luck are three different things. Why putting them together in the same basket?
>> Generalizations of the type "some studies have shown" (loc 432). Which studies, by whom? Or 'Mothers have been known to lift vehicles weighing a ton off their children." (details needed or it sounds like charlatanism) are not good for any serious author.
>> The book is full of generalizations about how the subconscious, childhood conditioning and behavior patterns show in life.
>> There is nothing like listening to a meditation by the author who created it. Personally, I love having the meditation recorded so that I can listen to it and connect with the author. Yet, there is only the written text and the advice of recording the med yourself.
>>
The digital cover has lovely color palette, but
there isn't enough contrast between the background and the lettering to be readable.
>> The Kindle edition is poor. See below.
(BAD) KINDLE EDITION
I hope the issues I mention below (and those I haven't noticed) are corrected, because it takes little effort to do that. The Kindle book is sold a standard price, but it feels like a rushed draft. Herewith some of the issues I've found:
>>> The Index of Contents is minimal. Only the major sections of the book are listed but not the chapters or major subsections. What is worse, the Workbook is not mentioned in the index, but it is in the book, so you'll need to bookmark the workbook and its subsections to get there.
>>> Too many examples of poor edition and transcription, which are painful to see and make reading unnecessarily unpleasant. Some examples below:
-- "after the after the Epilogue", locs 245, 338, 384 (after the Epilogue).
-- "The more you “know” the more the mine wants to reason", loc 642 (mind).
-- "What higher power or higher parts of your own being.Do you want in your sacred space with you?", loc 314 (An interrogation mark would have been more appropriate after 'being' not just after the latter question.)
-- "Celebrate the successes and victories. Acknowledge and mourn the losses and allow the energy of disappointment to become the energy of faith and transformation. And always on the journey", loc 327.(It reads badly).
-- "Though you haven’t yet fully realise their significance to your New Reality", loc. 362 (realised).
-- "Heading The Fifth Element Making Space", loc. 395 (in bold as the other headings)
-- "Uses energy positively by expanding your Circle", loc. 772 (Use energy)
-- "Write without pausing so that you don’t have time to “think” or “reason” loc. 642 (Many examples of overuse/misuse of quotation marks throughout the book).
-- "2. ave each person silently", loc. 822 (Have)
-- "I no longer have to-I simply have to be", loc, 1238 (period intended?)
-- "I may-instead of berating myself-bless each bite of food" loc. 1238 (long dashes needed plus a space of separation with each one)
Day, Laura. The Circle: How the Power of a Single Wish Can Change Your Life (Practical Intuition Book 1) . Laura Day. Kindle Edition.
>>> The exercises mentioned before getting to the workbook have no special formatting or indentation, so they aren't distinguishable from the rest of the body of the text. That's just poor editing. It would have been really nice to have them showcases in in a box or indented in, or the "Enter the Circle' in bold.
>>> In the workbook, the daily exercises start with a section title, but the weekly ones have the title missing.
>>> Some of the exercises in the workbook are a repetition of those mentioned in the book, and some of the daily and weekly ones are almost identical.
>> Affirmations are way too verbose to be powerful and directional.
Laura, please, change editor :) Or correct the current digital edition so it reads a bit better. Or decrease the price of the book.
This is a cute small oracle deck devoted to Kuan Yin, the Divine Mother.
I LIKE
> Beautiful imagery by the talented Chinese fine-artist Wan Yiguang with an atmosphere that captures adventure, youth, playfulness, and has a marked Tibetan/Mongolian vibe.
The young Kuan Ying,seems to be floating over the Earth playing with her yak, moving around happy and free with her loyal companion as The Fool in the Tarot would do.
> Fairchild's texts in this deck really resonate with me. In this deck, Fairchild's usual writing is deprived of her usual flourished never-ending verbose style and the meanings goes to the point without losing depth.
> A great oracle to start your day.
> No need of guidebook as the oracle message is written in the card back.
> Light, easily-to-shuffle deck.
> Hard keepsake box.
> Perfect for people with small hands.
ON THE FLIP SIDE
> The Divine Mother is a bit too young in the imagery. The character is not a woman yet. The story seems that of a young spirited girl who travels the world with her yak in a very playful mood more than that of the Asian goddess.
> The imagery and the text on the cards do not relate much. Other images might have been used, unrelated to the Asian goddess, and it would have not mattered. This being the case, this is more a text oracle than an intuitive oracle that relies on imagery, as the latter seems more decorative that intuitive.
> Cards coating makes them stick together, which is very annoying.
> Not many cards in this oracle.
> The quality and overall product does not justify the price.
This is such a well-known oracle, ubiquitous on YouTube tarot-reader channels that is difficult to say something that it hasn't been said before.
The oracle is personified in the human head/face that appears on the back as well as blended in in most front cards.
THINGS I LIKE
> Beautiful digital artwork by DellaGrottaglia, a digital artist with whom Colette collaborates and has a wonderful eye for intuitive imagery in divination decks. Overall, the whimsical surrealist clean imagery is wonderful: polished, simple but rich enough to be used on its own or with the guidebook interpretations. The deck has a strong presence of spirit animals and fairies, and it's embedded with tenderness and sense of humor.
> Presence of racial diversity in the characters depicted on the cards.
> The symmetric colorful back is a stunner.
> The guidebook contents. Each card has an oracle message, a relationship message, a prosperity message (career, business, work, projects) and a protection message, so it's not only practical but versatile and in-depth.
> Good quality card stock
> Sturdy keepsake box.
I DON'T LIKE
>
At the end of the day, what matters the most when using any oracle
deck is that things flow and your answers are replied with precision. You ask a query about work and the card imagery and/or guidebook
text are spot on and go to the core of the matter. I tend to ask any
deck, when I first start using it, questions about things I know the answer about or things about myself that I obviously know. Unfortunately, I have a mix bag of results with my queries on that regard and the oracle has been less magnificent than expected.
> The beautiful flourished numbering is not positioned on the same spot on each card. Sometimes, it's on the right hand side (in most cards) but not always at the same height. In one case, it's on the middle tip, while in other cases, the numbering is located on the left hand side but at different heights. This is simply bad design.
> The card stock isn't flexible enough and the glossy coating makes cards stick to each other, and, as a consequence, shuffling it's not natural or pleasurable.
> Average guidebook printing quality and paper stock.
> 23 cards have a flag garland on the top while the rest have none.Why? Does the flags signal something different on those cards that have them?
> The cards are on the large side so they're easy to shuffle if you have small hands.