finding sanctuary

Sometimes it's important to find your sanctuary, to retreat into yourself so you can truly hear and listen to the voice of your soul.

When the air around feels to be heavy, when the world around you looks to be in turmoil, it's important to retreat so you're not pulled down with, and by, everyone around you. It's important to retreat so you can return to your true essence, that of love. It's important to retreat so you can find yourself and, when you return to the world, you take out with you the positivity of love, the soul essence of you.

I love the mysticism of the clouds on this card. There's an abundance of clouds, no matter where you look.

Large fluffy white and dark blue clouds in the foreground and gentle wave-like orange and pink clouds in the background.

Clouds are all about higher thinking. When life feels to be in turmoil, when things just seem to be out of control, it's important to remove yourself from the collective energy and collective thinking and behaviour, and turn to higher thinking. Think outside of the box, view the situation differently, step away from the norm, come from a place of love.

When you focus on higher thinking, you come closer to Source energy (white), the energy of unconditional love and, as a result, you will discover and uncover great strength (dark blue) within you because you're moving away from the human emotions which, more often than not, radiate around the lower vibrations associated with fear. You become more connected with the higher vibrations associated with Source and love.

When you do so, you'll find the you grow spiritually (orange) and begin to see the world and life around you from a more spritual perspective. And you'll also become more compassionate (pink), not only to those around you but also to yourself.

The tower in the picture is surrounded by green hills, green being the colour of healing. When you feel weary as you walk your path on earth and remove yourself to find sanctuary and take time out to retreat within, great healng will take place as you begin to focus on the energy that you are within, not influenced by the energies without. Healing that is not only physical but also emotional, mental, and spiritual.

The tower stands above any hills and mountains that are surrounding it. Hills and mountains can be perceived as insurmountable obstacles. However, when you go to your retreat, when you enter the tower that is your sanctuary, you can see the hills and mountains around you from a different perspectve. No longer do they look or feel insurmountable, as your tower rises above them and you can look down to see the many paths (opportunities) that meander through and around the hills and mountains. As you retreat and go within, you can look out on the world around you and see that there are many opportunities and that what may have seemed insurmountable no longer appears as difficult or challenging.

The central symbol in the card is that of the tower, deemed our sanctuary and place of retreat. But what do towers represent and symbolise? Towers are a potent reminder of all our desires for hope and freedom. They are symbolic of a future filled with faith and promise for everyone.

When you choose to retreat and find sanctuary in your tower, when you choose to look inwards to your soul for guidance, you are choosing hope over fear, freedom from the collective thinking, and faith of better times to come when you leave your retreat, return to life, and shine your light for all to see.

Reference: This beautiful card is from The Sacred Traveler Oracle Deck by Denise Linn, artwork by Jesse Reisch