Summer Solstice is just under two weeks away. In honour of the energies of Summer, I am feeling the call to engage in activities that feed me and fuel delight. For me, there is no substitute than being in the company of a good book or divination/intuitive deck. For those who speak the language of StrengthsFinder, I have Intellection as my no. 1; mental activity is my greatest pleasure.

It’s been since last winter that I published a post on my recommended readings (and a year between that one and my first one). I’ve decided to include a few beloved Oracle Decks that I have found to be helpful when I needed a key to assist with unlocking my deepest truths, as well as a book written by a friend that I can’t wait to begin reading.

As mentioned before, though I hold the belief that there is no greater truth than our own personal understanding gained through experience, there exists published bodies of work that can assist us as we navigate through life. Books and Oracle Cards can be wise friends and compassionate teachers, and often with these creative works can we ask the forbidden questions or tread dark terrains

Again, the titles below are not in any way comprehensive nor complete; and they may not be new/recent publications. They are simply a list of helpful, even challenging books that have stretched and nourished me in one way or another…

Womb Awakening by Azra and Seren Bertrand …because we were all formed from the Womb and emerged from there. The book invites us to recognize, honour, and heal from the source of the Divine Feminine.

Quadrivium: The Four Classical Liberal Arts of Number, Geometry, Music, & Cosmology by Miranda Lundy, Daud Sutton, Anthony Ashton, Jason Martineau, John Martineau …because the sacred exists within the highly technical. Math has never been so beauty and intelligent.

So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo …because the topic of racism is nuanced and complex, and Oluo succeeds in clearly articulating without sacrificing depth.

The Kuan Yin Chronicles by Martin Palmer and Jay Ramsay, with Man-Ho Kwok …because I can’t help but ask myself as a WOC of Asian descent, after reading this book, how much of what I believe and what I understand from my own culture is also appropriated, as in the multi-faceted narrative of Kuan Yin’s history.

The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity by Esther Perel …because she brilliantly presents the case for complexity in human intimate relationships, as well as the call for understanding and compassion around them.

Hekate: Her Sacred Fires edited by Sorita D’Este …because I cannot get enough of my muse, the extraordinary, eternal and universal Goddess, and her role as lightbearer, keeper of secrets and the keybearer to access them, initiatrix, world soul, mistress of crossroads, plant medicine healer, witch, and beholder of serpent mysteries.

Wildfire Within by Chantal Russell, owner of The Well On Bowen …because I hold great regard to this beautiful human inside and out, whom I hold the honour of calling her friend, and the powerful story she tells of her child’s birth, the discovery of disease within her, and the restoration of the sacred feminine within her. (Please note I have not yet read this book from cover to cover. It is on my top 3 that I will be diving into this summer!)

Iris Oracle Deck by Mary Elizabeth Evans of Spirit Speak …because her raw, highly intuitive images rendered without any reservation, offers the same type of immediacy in tuning into your depths.

Rumi Oracle Deck by Alana Fairchild and Rassouli …because there is never a time when I felt the card I drew, along with Rumi’s words, have been untimely. This deck is so in-tune, without exaggeration, it acts as a key to whatever you wish to unlock.

Archetype Cards by Caroline Myss …because as a plant spirit medicine practitioner and ritualist, my work involves understanding archetypes as universal patterns of behaviour in the tradition of Carl Jung’s term, “the collective unconscious”.

Happy Reading!

All good things,

Mimi Young
founder + plant spirit medicine practitioner

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image credits: Heather Pennell of The Essence Oracle