Before Your Session
When you schedule your appointment you will receive an email with detailed instructions for the type of session we will be doing. Take a few minutes to get acquainted with the process and gather your thoughts.
If we are talking on the phone, make sure you have a signal. If we are using Zoom, please be familiar with the technology so that we can focus on your reading. This link has a useful article on how to join a Zoom meeting. Make sure that you have a peaceful setting where you will feel comfortable talking, and won’t be disturbed.
Be prepared with effective questions (LINK TO “ASKING EFFECTIVE QUESTIONS”) The best questions firmly center on personal agency, such as “what should I be aware of if I do X”, “How can I best….” and are going to give you much more actionable information, than “will I” or “should I”.
During Your Session
Come with an open mind. I hope if you are coming to our session that you want to be here, and are interested in what I have to offer.
Please show up on time. I frequently have several clients in a day, and no room for moving appointments, being late will cut into our scheduled time together.
Please be realistic. Readings are about a moment in time, the factors that led to it, possibilities, pitfalls, options, and possible outcomes. I cannot “see all,” people change, and unforeseen decisions can change the path of events. I am not a licensed psychologist, lawyer, counselor, accountant, herbalist, physical or mental healthcare professional. I am not a mind reader, nor am I all-knowing. All of my insights are through a spiritual lens and should be viewed as tools for spiritual development.
While clarifying questions are useful, please keep in mind that rephrasing a question to get a different answer does not serve either of us.
If something doesn’t seem helpful, feel free to disregard it. I encourage people to seek out others’ opinions as needed.
After Your Session
Once you have had a reading, take some time to write down your impressions. Sit with the information. In the days following pay attention to what is happening around you. Look for opportunities to put your information into action. Give it time to breathe.
Why is it important?
For many things a reading or consultation session is part of a larger process, it is what you do with it that makes it important. Sessions are not a passive activity, they are an active, collaborative process.
Sessions can be an instrument to help us access our subconscious or things outside ourselves, they are often richly layered experiences, with deeper impacts unfolding over time.
To gain the fullest advantage from a session, we need time to process and absorb what has been communicated. The session illuminates things and provides the OPPORTUNITY for action.
Document It
Take notes. Seriously. Please.
Write down the reading, take a photo, whatever works best for you, document it. Get it all onto paper, or a computer, or a voice recorder. This way you can review it later. Sometimes the phrasing can be particularly telling at a later date. Did something stand out to you or the person doing the reading for you?
Reflect
Then document the feels, your reactions, and thoughts.
What feels relevant? Did something feel disgusting? Revolting? Resonant? Poignant?
Do you think something was totally off? Why? What was your reaction?
Did something make you cry? Do you know why?
Try to get it out, let it flow. When you start critiquing, or censoring, or resisting, note it. These can be places where there is serious power. When you get to one of those spots asking yourself “and why is that?” it can be revelatory.
React to the reading, think about it, use it for journal fodder. Get curious, ask questions, and see what happens.
Create an Action Plan
Take a look at your session notes and reflections for your next steps.
Write your next steps down with your reading notes. Look for goals that can be specific, measurable, and attainable. Look for indicators of time. These steps are not written in stone, you may get to a point on the path and realize your terrain is different than when you first wrote the plan, and that is ok. Your plan can grow, change, and adapt to expand with you and the terrain. The goal is to have maps of where you have been, what has worked (or not), and to give you ideas for the future.
Processing – Room to Breathe
Now that you have been documenting, reflecting, and planning, it is time to let all that information sink in. Go for a walk, sit in nature, listen to music, clean your house, meditate, do yoga, take a bath, read a book. Get away from the reading for a bit and just let your brain work on it in the background.
Give It More Time
Timelines for this are variable, and often dependant on the situation. For some issues, a month may be sufficient for things to change enough for another reading to be relevant. Other times a year may be too soon to look without muddying the waters further, for example, I will not pull a Soul Map for anyone within a year of their last Soul Map reading. Each time that set of things is accessed it leaves a mark and it takes time for things to settle back down before it would be useful.
Be Gentle with Judgements – Practice Self Compassion and Self Care
Sometimes readings come up with bad news, things we don’t want to hear, hard situations, and difficult lessons. I don’t think “everything happens for a reason” that way lies victim blaming and defeat. I do believe that we can learn from garbage situations and come out the other side with something of use.
Sessions are often when we explore our shadows, our growth edges, limiting beliefs, and deeply held patterns, they offer an opportunity for us to look at these things with compassion and offer ourselves the gift of grace. None of us are perfect, and it is hard to move forward while beating ourselves up.
“I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better” -Maya Angelou
Review Your Reading
After really giving it time to breathe, go back, look at your documentation.
What were your initial thoughts and goals? How have they changed?
Write down what has passed since the session and note any achievements.
Note your feelings as you go through.
Acknowledge all of your efforts, big and small. Where are your wins? Your progress? Your change and growth?
Make sure to celebrate your successes.
