{"id":19997,"date":"2019-02-01T01:10:31","date_gmt":"2019-02-01T06:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=20262"},"modified":"2019-02-01T15:16:08","modified_gmt":"2019-02-01T20:16:08","slug":"the-sober-pagan-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2019\/02\/01\/the-sober-pagan-10\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sober Pagan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The\nUniverse Has Your Back \u2026 and More!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One\nof the gifts I received at Yule was a set of meditation cards\nentitled \u201cThe Universe Has Your Back\u201d. Beautifully designed by\nGabrielle Bernstein, with artwork by Micaela Ezra, these are some of\nthe loveliest cards I have ever seen. I was first going to review\nthem for \u201cSeeing the Signs\u201d but after looking through them\nthoroughly, I realized that they weren\u2019t divinatory in the classic\nsense but rather meant just for mediation. Not that Tarot cards,\nLenormard cards and Oracle cards can\u2019t be used for meditation \u2013\nwe all know that all these cards can be used very effectively as\nmeditative tools! But \u201cThe Universe Has Your Back\u201d belongs to a\nclass of cards that are only <\/em>for meditation. For this reason,\nI thought they were perfect for reviewing in The Sober Pagan. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tFirst\noff, these cards are beautiful. Everything about them \u2013 the box,\nthe back of the cards, the card stock itself, the feel of the cards. \nThey are top-quality all the way. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The\ninside of the box has this little message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This\nis the back of the cards. I really <\/em>like this. Even before\nyou get to any of the meditative messages, there\u2019s this lovely\nimage that begs for its own contemplative consideration. It\u2019s as\nsimple as haiku but every bit as effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the past few weeks, I have used these cards in my everyday mediation session. Instead of using a Daily Mediation book, such as Twenty-Four Hours A Day<\/a> by Richmond Walker or Each Day a New Beginning<\/a> by Karen Casey or one of the many other AA-approved books, I decided to simply pull one card from the pack and meditate on it. I\u2019m not shuffling the pack or doing anything like that \u2013 I\u2019m just taking the cards as they come \u2013 one card at a time \u2013 one day at a time. Each card is beautiful. <\/em>I find myself looking forward to seeing what the card is going to be each day! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tSo\nfar, these are my favorite cards:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One\nthing I\u2019ve noticed is that any one of these cards could make an\nawesome poster. Maybe I\u2019m an elderly hippie but that\u2019s what I\nthink. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So who is Gabrielle Bernstein, the creator of \u201cThe Universe Has Your Back\u201d cards? She is the author of The Universe Has Your Back: Transform Fear to Faith<\/a>, published by Hay House. I have not read this book and the reviews were all over the place in terms of good versus bad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find out more, I Googled her and found her website. Here is the link to it: https:\/\/gabbybernstein.com\/<\/a> There are links to lessons on how to \u201cDetox\u201d yourself from being judgmental and how to pray for surrender. There\u2019s another one for a \u201ccord-cutting meditation\u201d. There\u2019s a link to her blog and a link to a place where you can \u201cshop\u201d for all kinds of stuff, including \u201cThe Universe Has Your Back\u201d cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But of course, Gabrielle Bernstein is only one-half of \u201cThe Universe Has Your Back\u201d card team \u2013 the artwork is by Micaela Ezra. Here is her website: http:\/\/www.micaelaezra.com\/<\/a> Do yourself a favor and check it out. Although her artwork is based in Jewish philosophical thought, it is universal in its beauty and truth. I read a few of her blog posts and I look forward to taking the time to read them more closely when my surroundings are properly quiet enough for study. And as a craftswoman, I especially love her work with textiles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tSo\nI am quite pleased with this particular Yule gift! Not only did I\nreceive the gift of the cards themselves \u2013 and their meditative\nmessages \u2013 but I learned about the creator of the cards and the\nwonderful artist of the cards. And every day \u2013 one day at a time \u2013\nI have a very valuable sober tool with which to work! \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I very highly recommend \u201cThe Universe Has Your Back<\/a>\u201d cards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\tUntil\nnext month, Brightest Blessings!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabrielle\nBernstein and Micaela Ezra. \u201cThe Universe Has Your Back\u201d: A\n52-Card Deck. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2017. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabrielle Bernstein. https:\/\/gabbybernstein.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Micaela Ezra. http:\/\/www.micaelaezra.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Universe Has Your Back: A 52-card Deck on Amazon<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

About\nthe Author:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Polly\nMacDavid<\/strong> lives in Buffalo, New York at the moment but that\ncould easily change, since she is a gypsy at heart. Like a gypsy, she\nis attracted to the divinatory arts, as well as camp fires and\ndancing barefoot. She has three cats who all help her with her magic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her\nphilosophy about religion and magic is that it must be thoroughly\nbased in science and logic. She is Dianic Wiccan and she is solitary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\nblogs at silverapplequeen.wordpress.com<\/a>.\nShe writes about general life, politics and poetry. She is writing a\nnovel about sex, drugs and recovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Universe Has Your Back \u2026 and More! One of the gifts I received at Yule was a set of meditation cards entitled \u201cThe Universe Has Your Back\u201d. Beautifully designed by Gabrielle Bernstein, with artwork by Micaela Ezra, these are some of the loveliest cards I have ever seen. I was first going to review them for \u201cSeeing the Signs\u201d but after looking through them thoroughly, I realized that they weren\u2019t divinatory in the classic sense but rather meant just for mediation. Not that Tarot cards, Lenormard cards and Oracle cards can\u2019t be used for meditation \u2013 we all know that all these cards can be used very effectively as meditative tools! But \u201cThe Universe Has Your Back\u201d belongs to a class of cards that are only for meditation. For this reason, I thought they were perfect for reviewing in The Sober Pagan. First off, these cards are beautiful. Everything about them \u2013 the box, the back of the cards, the card stock itself, the feel of the cards. They are top-quality all the way. The inside of the box has this little message. This is the back of the cards. I really like this. Even before you get to any of the meditative messages, there\u2019s this lovely image that begs for its own contemplative consideration. It\u2019s as simple as haiku but every bit as effective. For the past few weeks, I have used these cards in my everyday mediation session. Instead of using a Daily Mediation book, such as Twenty-Four Hours A Day by Richmond Walker or Each Day a New Beginning by Karen Casey or one of the many other AA-approved books, I decided to simply pull one card from the pack and meditate on it. I\u2019m not shuffling the pack or doing anything like that \u2013 I\u2019m just taking the cards as they come \u2013 one card at a time \u2013 one day at a time. Each card is beautiful. I find myself looking forward to seeing what the card is going to be each day! So far, these are my favorite cards: One thing I\u2019ve noticed is that any one of these cards could make an awesome poster. Maybe I\u2019m an elderly hippie but that\u2019s what I think. So who is Gabrielle Bernstein, the creator of \u201cThe Universe Has Your Back\u201d cards? She is the author of The Universe Has Your Back: Transform Fear to Faith, published by Hay House. I have not read this book and the reviews were all over the place in terms of good versus bad. To find out more, I Googled her and found her website. Here is the link to it: https:\/\/gabbybernstein.com\/ There are links to lessons on how to \u201cDetox\u201d yourself from being judgmental and how to pray for surrender. There\u2019s another one for a \u201ccord-cutting meditation\u201d. There\u2019s a link to her blog and a link to a place where you can \u201cshop\u201d for all kinds of stuff, including \u201cThe Universe Has Your Back\u201d cards. But of course, Gabrielle Bernstein is only one-half of \u201cThe Universe Has Your Back\u201d card team \u2013 the artwork is by Micaela Ezra. Here is her website: http:\/\/www.micaelaezra.com\/ Do yourself a favor and check it out. Although her artwork is based in Jewish philosophical thought, it is universal in its beauty and truth. I read a few of her blog posts and I look forward to taking the time to read them more closely when my surroundings are properly quiet enough for study. And as a craftswoman, I especially love her work with textiles. So I am quite pleased with this particular Yule gift! Not only did I receive the gift of the cards themselves \u2013 and their meditative messages \u2013 but I learned about the creator of the cards and the wonderful artist of the cards. And every day \u2013 one day at a time \u2013 I have a very valuable sober tool with which to work! I very highly recommend \u201cThe Universe Has Your Back\u201d cards. Until next month, Brightest Blessings! References: Gabrielle Bernstein and Micaela Ezra. \u201cThe Universe Has Your Back\u201d: A 52-Card Deck. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2017. Gabrielle Bernstein. https:\/\/gabbybernstein.com\/ Micaela Ezra. http:\/\/www.micaelaezra.com\/ The Universe Has Your Back: A 52-card Deck on Amazon *** About the Author: Polly MacDavid lives in Buffalo, New York at the moment but that could easily change, since she is a gypsy at heart. Like a gypsy, she is attracted to the divinatory arts, as well as camp fires and dancing barefoot. She has three cats who all help her with her magic. Her philosophy about religion and magic is that it must be thoroughly based in science and logic. She is Dianic Wiccan and she is solitary. She blogs at silverapplequeen.wordpress.com. She writes about general life, politics and poetry. She is writing a novel about sex, drugs and recovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19997\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}