Your Journal Is Your Own Personal Oracle
Ever since I was a little kid, I have always loved journaling. When I was much younger, I had all of these composition books and spiral notebooks that were filled with random ideas, stories, characters that I had created, drawings, and thoughts. None of these journals were written on a particularly consistent basis, though, and journaling was never much of a “hobby” until many years later.
To this day, I am not sure what happened, but when September of 2017 began, I took journaling to the next level. By that time, I was writing in The Idea Journal just about everyday, and I also had a dream journal that I was writing in every now and then. That month, though, I began three new journals, all of which I am still writing in.
The three journals that I began were those of “The Endless Book Journal”, “The Filmic Memories Journal”, and “The Source Journal”. Even though those names are, essentially, nonsense, I am more than content with them, since they capture the essence of each journal.
Each one of those journals is dedicated to a very particular theme. The Endless Book Journal, for example, is a journal that holds all of my notes regarding books that have deeply resonated with me. For this blog, as a matter of fact, I often turn to The Endless Book Journal as a source for ideas and practical information that I can share.
As for the two others — The Filmic Memories Journal and The Source Journal — they are quite similar to The Endless Book Journal. The Filmic Memories Journal consists of notes that I’ve taken on films that have resonated with me. The Source Journal, however, is a day journal that I use to record my thoughts, ambitions, memories, and experiences. Every entry is broken up by month and week, ensuring that I can always go back to a particular moment in time and see what I was thinking about and working on then.
No one will deny the numerous benefits that journaling offers. Journaling is very fun, allows you to organize your thoughts, helps break down problems and obstacles, aids in relaxation, is a great way to record precious moments and feelings; there are an endless number of benefits that journaling offers.
Everyone is, for the most part, familiar with those benefits. No one needs to be reminded of them, since they are very obvious and can be found in any book or essay on journaling.
There is one extraordinary benefit, however, that I feel many people miss when considering the value and benefits of journaling…
Your Journal Is Your Own Personal Oracle
The word divination means, according to Google, “the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means”.
Many people practice divination using tools such as the I Ching, Tarot cards, and runes; among many other tools and methods. Each one of those tools and methods is undeniably valuable, powerful, and useful.
But, in my own experience, I find that those methods are often impersonal and not always ideal, especially when it comes to answering questions that are both deeply personal and incredibly specific.
Rather than consulting with a set of cards or a series of symbols that you may not have a strong connection with, you can use your journal — or, in my case, journals — as your own personal oracle.
Everything within your journal was written by you. Everything within your journal came from you; your feelings, your emotions, your desires, your fears, your anxieties, your beauty. Everything within your journal came from you and is, in turn, a part of you.
When you consult with your journal, you aren’t just receiving an answer — or some semblance of an answer — to your question, but engaging with a, perhaps, “frozen memory”.
Memory can be a hindrance to personal growth and evolution, but within memory, there are often the seeds of ideas and concepts that are necessary to enhance our present experience.
Many of us often know what we need to do and what is right for us, on some level, yet this knowledge is either unacknowledged or completely invisible. More often than not, when I go back to read my journal, I find that I was already aware of the concepts and ideas that I am, only now, putting into practice.
More information and more knowledge is often not the answer. Rather, the inner wisdom to act on what we know is right is what’s necessary. To engage with this inner wisdom, we can rely on our own memories, our own creations, allowing our own creations to guide us and direct us towards what is necessary for the present moment.
By consulting with your journal, and allowing your journal to guide you to the answers you are looking for, you are communing directly with yourself and the extraordinary powers contained within your very being.
Consulting With The Oracle
To consult with the oracle — your journals — is an easy and pleasant task. But, for this to work, you must have a journal to consult, and it’s recommended that you have at least thirty-pages or so of journaling to work with. The more journaling that you’ve done, the better, since that means you have a lot more to work with and there’s a greater probability of you receiving an answer that pertains exactly to what you are asking.
Step 01: Know What You Are Asking
To consult with the oracle, you must first know what you are asking. To know what you are asking, you can write out a question that is clear, concise, and direct. Make sure that you know what the answer to this question will lead to.
As an example, imagine that you would like to write a novel, but aren’t sure what the premise of this novel should be. Since you want to know the premise of the novel — that part is important, since you aren’t looking for the entire story of the novel but, rather, it’s basic premise — you can formulate a question that is something like “What Should The Premise Of My New Novel Be?” The answer to this question will lead to you knowing the premise of your novel, allowing you to begin creating a detailed outline of the story and characters, making the overall writing process much easier.
A vague or uncertain question is, in my experience, very likely to result in vague and uncertain answers. There is nothing wrong with these kinds of answers — they can even be desirable at times — but if you want something that is specific and actionable, then make sure you have a question that is clear, concise, and direct.
Step 02: Choose A Journal
If you only have one journal to use, then this section is irrelevant. But, if you don’t, then you will need to think about which journal you want to use for this particular task.
Every journal is, likely, a little different from the other. You may have some journals that are very personal, while also having a journal or two that is less personal and more focused on one or two key themes and ideas.
Take into consideration the question that you are asking. By doing so, it’s likely that a particular journal will come to mind as being a better fit for the question you are asking and the answer you are seeking. But, if not, you can ask the question to several different journals. By doing that, though, you will receive a plethora of different answers, and none of them may feel particularly direct or applicable.
Step 03: Consult The Oracle
To consult the oracle, all you must do is close your eyes, open your journal to a random page, and place your finger along a random passage. The passage that your finger is on is the passage that answers your question.
Right after you have read the passage, write it down. Reading the passages surrounding that particular passage, or even the entire entry itself, may grant you greater clarity and understanding.
These days, though, many people write their journals on a computer. I happen to be one of those people. Fortunately, the exact process remains the same, but instead of opening up to a random page, you need to randomly select a particular journal entry — assuming that each one is in a folder of some sort — and then place the mouse cursor along a random passage.
Step 04: Make Use Of What You Have Been Given
When you are finished consulting the oracle, remember to say “Thank You” and to make use of what you have been given. Even something as simple as meditating on the answer you received or writing out a few ideas as to what it could mean is akin to making use of it. But, for the best results, you will not only know what it means, you will turn that into some kind of action that propels you forward!
Conclusion
Thank you so much for reading this essay! I hope that you enjoyed reading it and that you found its content inspiring and useful! If you want to reach me, for any reason at all, you can do so at “maxwellcakin@gmail.com”!
Best Wishes & Have A Lovely Day!
