I've had this book for about 10 years. I was elated to purchase the recent Kindle edition, because I re-read this book regularly. Although I am naturally very intuitive, this book helped in the past, and still does, to refresh and strengthen my intuitive skills.
I LIKE
# Having
read the hard copy version and the digital version with nearly a decade
of difference, I can honestly say that this book is as relevant today
(2021) than it was published first in 1997.
# The
book is very practical, has no pretense or mambo-jumbo and includes
examples of students' responses to the exercises we do. The book is written in a very approachable way, as if you were in one of Day's workshops.
# Day debunks what intuition and psychic abilities are. This being the case, the book will appeal to people who are way far from the occult and esoteric bunch that you usually associate with this sort of subjects with. In fact, Day has taught how to use intuition to businesses, medical practices, film productions, therapy and healing groups, venture capital groups, and families.
# Day's intuitive lessons are the best I've found anywhere. I've read many books on intuition, each one with their own tools, techniques and valid ways of tapping into our sixth sense. Yet, Day's
books are the only ones that I regularly re-read or consult.
# Most of the exercises are wonderful and enlightening. Some of them really wow. I especially loved exercise no. 26: The Circle Technique.
# Some of Day's digressions in chapter 30 re about intuition, oneness, interconnection and social ecology, space and time, predestination, spirituality and so on are still relevant 30 years after the book was written.
# The double-blind reading experiment described in chapter 31.
# Herewith some of my fav pearls of wisdom:
-- "If you want an outcome and your intuition says no, ask why."
-- "Make it a rule never to mimic a trained and licensed professional in a given field."
-- "Intuition should add to good judgement, not replace it."
-- "Intuitive information is always objectively valid, and it is always right. It’s in the interpretation of intuitive data that errors are introduced."
-- "Reality is nothing more than a consensus."
-- "Intuition teaches us that things are separated neither in space nor in time. There is no past or present or future."
INTUITIVE READING ADVICE
1/ You don't need helpful information other than the question; actually, the less you know about the topic, the better.
2/ You aren't always right.
3/ Your subject still needs to exercise judgement as you aren't making decisions for them.
4/ You aren't a therapist.
5/ Your preferred way of working and intuitive style.
6/ Ask the person to have the questions written and framed before the reading takes place
7/ Get relaxed and centered
8/ Once the question is asked, begin speaking straightaway so that your logical mind has no chances to interfere. You may get impressions before the question is asked or impressions that seem meaningless to you but not for the other person, or impressions that seem unrelated to the question but they are.
9/ Don't let your subject interrupt you, as this interferes with the intuitive flow.
10/ If you aren't getting anything, be honest about it, but try to see that this not-seeing-anything doesn't equal no, nothing, etc. Refocus the question.
11/ Translate your intuitive images into colloquial language.
12/ Report your impressions going from the details to the big picture, and look for verifiable signposts (names, dates, places, history, etc.).
13/ At the very least look for these things: a) Positive/negative feelings to the question. b) Whether your feel that you're in the present, past of future of the question, or if it moves back and forward. c) If you see people or events affecting the question.
14/ Ask and work with feedback.
15/ Ask for further questions.
16/ Remain objective no matter what you get. You can’t assume that any event is necessarily good or bad. If you are delivering 'bad' news, be tactful and gentle, try to see the silver lining and mention that you might be wrong. If necessary feel free not to answer a question.
DOWNSIDES
>> The book has a
chatty anecdotal conversational tone that might not be for everyone.
>> Although I value the way that Day compares how dreams and intuition are
similar and different, as a dreamworker I don't personally agree with some of her
statements she makes about dreams.
>> The wording of some of the exercises is not clear enough. Exercise 22 and the chapter on intuitive polarities it relates to are especially confusing to me.
>> Day says that the more random an intuitive technique is, the more likely it is to work. She also states "The key difference between intuition and these other divining techniques is that with intuition you’re not using external cues to help you – or to lead you astray." For that reason she says that, for example, tarot readings aren't as good, as, say, the I Ching. I Tarot/oracle cards are chosen randomly (flip out or random selection) to start with. Also, oracle/tarot decks have different imagery and depictions of similar archetypes, sometimes to the point that the same card on a different deck provides you with different intuitive elements. You can mix and match several decks to get an intuitive reading made of a mix of cards coming from them. If everything is related, as Day says, and everything is meaningful for an intuitive reading, a card is as valid as anything else.
>> The exercise between number 24 and 25 was never numbered.
>> Chapters 27 and 28 bear the same title, but the former is devoted to carer and
finances and the other to general personal matters. Why not titling each chapter
accordingly?
RECOMMENDATION
I would advise to complement this book with the Intuition in Love,
Intuition for Success and How to Rule the World from your Couch, because
they are the best intuition tools out there.
KINDLE EDITION
Overall, this is a good Kindle edition, with pagination markers instead of location markers, something that I always prefer. On the other hand, I noticed some minor editorial mistakes: -- "the progression of a season . if you don’t receive such clues" in p. 128.
-- "Intuitive information is o rich and complex", p. 162.
-- The pair high/low is listed twice in exercise 21.
-- "anything, tell them to pretened", p. 184.
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.
GOOD STUFF
> Great affirmations that go to the point, aren't too short or too lengthy, and have substance.Due to the fact that doors are the main theme, the deck as a 'transitional' vibe and messages. > Very small deck, so it's perfect for people with small hands.
> Beautiful real-life photography of unique doors from around the world.
> Elegant design of the back,on the affirmations side, in white-marble and gold colors.
> Good quality glossy flexible cards that shuffle beautifully.
> Very good quality keepsake box with upper non-detachable magnetic lid.
> Instructions of how to use the cards are written on the inner lid. > Great portability.
SO-SO
> Tiny deck, so if you have big hands, it might not be for you.
> There is no guidebook or booklet explaining why the door theme was chosen. Because really, there must be one. It
might be the case that Engracia came with the messages after choosing
the photos himself and meditating on them, but we don't know about the
concept that inspired the deck anywhere. A bit of background on the
concept might have been wonderful. > Contrast between lettering and background is deficient on the inner lid.
> Most photos are stock photos from Pexels, Shutterstock except for four of them attributed to Melissa Lee Vernali. There seems not to be much effort put beyond choosing the photos and Engracia's lovely messages on the back.
This is another beautiful tiny deck by Rockpool Publishing. It has the house trademarks:
> Small stylish deck.
> Motivational messages.
> Gorgeous illustrations/photos/artwork.
> Portability.
> Great quality glossy card stock
> Sturdy practical keepsake box with upper self-closing lid.
> Pleasurable shuffling
ALSO GREAT
> The illustrations are all beautiful Aboriginal motifs in earthy colours. The deck has artistic congruence, as well.
> However, what stands out to me, having as many motivational decks as I have, is that the messages in the cards aren't the same-old messages. On the contrary, the they are original nuggets that will make you ponder.
SO SO
> Aboriginal artwork has a multitude of ocher and earthy tones that makes it both rich and earthy, but this deck lacks colour depth and feels a bit flat in that regard.> A bit pricey for what they are.
> Perhaps, not good for people with big hands.
This is really a tiny mini deck, perfect for people with small hands or children, and you can fit it in your pocket or in a small handbag. It comes with a mini-booklet that is surprisingly good. If you want a portable RWS this does the job to perfection.
US Games Systems consistently produce cards that have the perfect card stock thickness and coating, so shuffling is natural and pleasurable. This deck is another example of the house savoir faire in that regard.
ON THE FLIP SIDE
> The RWS imagery is in the public domain, so not artistic effort was put to produce this deck. Besides, the keepsake box is not especially good. This being the case, I regret not buying a similar RWS mini deck from Lo Scarabeo as the latter printing house produces better quality mini decks for a similar price.
> Perhaps because I'm used to the Radiant RWS, this deck feels a bit too pale and not as appealing.
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.
This is one of the most interesting oracles I've come across lately. The deck relies and draws on a very-strong feminist array of women archetypes. All of them are writers with lives that are/were out of the ordinary. Their life and work is the basis for the symbolic portraits (major arcana if you wish), while their materials (symbols associated with their writing and/or lives) are in the sepia simple icon-like cards.
CLAP CLAP CLAP
> Original concept. > Amazing 'odd' women and writers from different cultures, races, sexual orientations and historical periods (from historical figures to living legends), so the deck feels contemporary and in tune with the need of cultural diversity in our world.
> Beyond some renowned female writers, you'll get to know some others that are equally remarkable but not so well known.
> Horan's art is just great. The illustrations of the witches are the most evocative and helpful for intuitive readings. I'll give you an example:
I asked, 'What I have to know in my relationship with guy X?" The card that came up was Octavia E Buttler's The Future. The image depicts a woman opening a young man's chest, at the heart level, as if she was healing a wound or just a opening his heart. The man seems to be dreaming, surrounded by darkness and subject to the hold of subconscious tentacles. The man is white and the woman is black, so she might be his shadow side. Can you see the beauty of the card and how this would work on a romantic question? You don't really need to know who Octavia E. Buttler is to use the cards because the imagery is rich and multi-layered. You can still go to the booklet, look up Octavia's story and add some further elements. The summary says, for example, that she wrote novels that reflected on power dynamics about sexes, so you could see that the woman on the card has the upper hand in this relationship, she's bigger than the man perhaps she has power over him, she has power over his heart or is more mature, or more conscious. In other cases, the enquirer might find that the image depicts a woman breaking the guy's heart, for example. I took two other cards to clarify the message and I got the cat (a being that comes and goes, who attaches to people freely but needs its own space) and the snail (a being that is slow in movement, has a shell, and has a small house). Just beautiful, isn't it?
- Indie wonderful design.
- Elegant practical keepsake box, beautifully designed inside out. The box has an inner pull-up ribbon to help get the cards out.
- Great quality card stock with flexible textured luxurious cards that shuffle beautifully and don't stick to each other.
- Good printing quality.
> The deck seems to works for me. It gives precise answers to my questions. I have tried it with questions about people I know well, and then asked the cards, and boom, the answers have been spot-on.
THUMBS DOWN
> I get that this is a spin-off of the eponymous book, but this booklet doesn't say much. The summary about each artist is good enough, and the Wikipedia surely has more information. The booklet basically says, use your intuition with this deck, which is great, but doesn't help explain the concept behind the oracle. So, what's the point of producing an oracle that has no oracle guidance? And really, I don't want to buy the book just to understand the deck.
> Some design issues. For example, the witches cards have their name and keyword on the front; however, the materials cards have the keywords in the booklet. That's bad design because it doesn't seem to show design congruence.
> The materials cards relate to the witches, yet, we aren't told why and which materials belong to to each witch.
> The keyword attributed to each writer isn't always intuitive for me. Emily Dickinson is the epitome of the hermit and solitude. However, she's given the keyword 'soul' instead of 'solitude' which is given to Alejandra Pizarnik. This would not matter if both writers were unknown, but Dickinson is well known for her solitary life.
> Lettering in the booklet is diminutive and you might need a magnifying glass to read the text.
MIND
> The strong feminist blueprint might not be some people's cup of tea and men with strong male energy might not relate to the deck at all.
> This deck is bulky and the cards are on the large size so people with small hands might struggle shuffling.
GOOD STUFF
> Ceccoli's amazing artwork, which is a mix of toned up pastel oneiric surrealist art that is just my cup of tea. Each card is a piece of art.
> For whatever
reason I see this deck as very in tune with subconscious themes and
matters, and something that can be used in therapeutic settings as an
oracle or conversation started for people with trauma.
> Stunning printing quality.
> Great quality cardboard.
> Cards shuffle wonderfully.
> Sturdy keepsake box.
> Booklet in several languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German.)
> Perfect for people with small hands or when you want to have a deck to carry around in a small purse.
> A wonderful collectable.
DISAPPOINTING
> Despite the beauty of the deck, this feels like an odd Tarot deck and more a collection of beautiful art cards made fit in into a Tarot and not images created to be part of a Tarot. This is just my impression, at least with some of the cards. Some of them fit well with their RWS counterparts at least in spirit, but others do no do at all.
> Not a beginners tarot.
> As the booklet is so small and limited, one gets lost in the beauty of the imagery and gets lost in it.
MIND
> If you really love this Tarot, get the full edition with the guidebook.
> If you have big hands this might not be your size.
GOOD STUFF
> Good-quality glossy flexible cardboard.
> Cards shuffle well.
> Good quality printing.
> Nice keepsake box.
> Some of the quotes are beautiful and are a good start to my day.
> The flower garlands illustrating each card are just beautiful.
> A Motivational pick me up in the morning or afternoon.
DOWNSIDES
> Artist/s of the artwork aren't mentioned anywhere.
> This is a collection of nice quotes. The Internet is full of free of quotes. Google Play has gazillion apps with free quotes. Just saying.
> A bit larger than I would have loved the deck to be.
> A product more than anything else. Something to sell,
> A bit expensive for what they are.
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