Unicorn Oracle Cards & Society

Intention — Be Bold

A message for you from the universe and a writing prompt, plus reflections on society and some stories from writers you might have missed

The universe is speaking loudly today. I know that because my Unicorn Oracle deck gave me “Intention” as the card for today’s mediation.

Cordelia Brabbs writes on her “Oracle of the Unicorn” card to “be clear and decisive.” Cordelia advises to request boldly and meditate on what “you really want.”

I love this intention.

Let’s be bold.

Let’s ask for what we want.

But, only after we’ve examined ourselves to know exactly what it is we need and want so that we’re asking for the right things.

Ask for what you want

I’ve learned over the years that the only way to receive is to ask for what you want. I remember waiting for whatever it was that I wanted when I first started working.

I quickly learned that bosses and managers aren’t mind readers. If I didn’t ask for whatever was necessary, they wouldn’t always offer. Also, I learned by accident once that asking for things could get nice results.

When I was working in a certain office, we’d have baked goods every Wednesday morning as a treat for the office. I casually mentioned in a meeting that we should have something more healthy than donuts — as a joke. But, the next week, there were healthier options available instead of just boxes and boxes of glorious donuts.

My little joke actually made a change in the office policies.

A little joke taught me the power of asking.

I further learned the power of “the ask” during my debt collection calls. When I first started working and was training with by boss, I quickly learned that school hadn’t prepared me for the realities of debt collection court calls in an urban area. There were hundreds of people waiting — most of them not wanting to be sitting in a hallway at small claims. Cases were being resolved in the hallway. We were there with other offices, so multiply the number of cases by the five or six high volume firms that were there.

Asking became important at that time. If you don’t ask someone to do something, it won’t happen. In the debt collection world it was asking for an agreement to pay. The debtor wasn’t going to offer it on their own. If I didn’t ask for it, then I wasn’t going to receive anything.

And, as a practical matter, if I didn’t ask, there would be no way of getting the thousands and thousands of cases resolved in an amicable way. The court system would grind to a halt under the weight of the case loads if judges were required to get involved in resolution of every matter.

That isn’t to say that people didn’t get their day in court and didn’t go before the judge. When I was going to the small claims court in the Daley Center, the judge would take the bench around 9:30 a.m. and have the morning call cleared by 10:15 a.m. after hearing 30 to 60 cases. Anything left after that were hearings and bench trials until the afternoon call. But, it was expected that everything would be resolved or be on its way to be set for trial so that justice could be administered efficiently.

So, the lesson is ask.

Ask boldly.

Think of your ask of the universe and of your fellow humans as the start of a negotiation.

Why not go big?

Why not be bold?

The worst that can happen is that you end up in a better position than from that where you started.

As long as you are loving in your intention and have meditated on what you really want and need, then go and ask the universe for what you want boldly!

For more oracle card readings and meditations, make sure to visit my friends Tree Langdon, Infiniti and Marla Bishop! 💗💗💗

Time management

I find so many great things to read, I have to remember to write before it gets too late and I’m too tired to be able to put my words to paper.

The same is true for doing all the things in my life that need to be done.

The great thing is that if I start out the writing day by writing, take a break to read after ward, then write again, I can accomplish all of my goals of being informed as well as producing stories.

ILLUMINATION Writing Prompts

I enjoy writing prompts, so I share with everyone one of my favorite activities I learned from the legendary Xavier Van Holde and his world-famous IdeaStream prompts.

Take these 15 words and use them in a story or a poem.

Tag me so that I can see what you’ve written since I always enjoy reading your creations.

• wag
• portent
• churl
• petrified
• esoteric
• vagary
• tenuous
• dynamo
• inimitable
• hubris
• evasive
• repulsive
• sheath
• voluble
• catalyst

ILLUMINATION highlights

I love sharing some writing that I’ve come across that has made me happy or thoughtful or otherwise moved me. Go read these authors whose stories you might have missed.

Selali Onuoha

“If you happen to be the one starting afresh at something, rather than feel inferior to everyone else start appreciating your unique position.” — Selali Onuoha

Deborah Oyegue

Deborah lists some tips for writers who don’t have the funds to hire an editor to check their writing.

“Editors are writers’ heroes. But it is not feasible to get an editor when you are not yet earning enough on your writing.” — Deborah Oyegue

Solomon McDivitt

Solomon warns of gurus with messages of wealth that are designed to keep you buying their information products.

“Hustle culture is toxic.”

“It’s intentionally designed to burn you out.”

“It’s made to make you feel like you will never be good enough until you read one more article or watch one more video.” — Solomon McDivitt

Culture rewind

NYMag’s take on “Seinfeld” and its treatment of Black people

“In truth, the group is selfish and deranged, delicious micromenaces to normalcy and etiquette who nonetheless enter and leave each episode with their worlds intact. When white characters run wild on Seinfeld, Black people are cops. They exist as agents of public decency next to whom our main characters appear all the more indecent.” — Lauren Michele Jackson

Propaganda film

I watched “NY Illustrated — Saturday Night At Fort Apache — March 4, 1973,” a documentary from 1973 and was amazed at how it expresses all of the “law and order” tropes we continually hear today to justify locking everyone up.

At one point in the video, an officer complains that his fellow officers are the only ones doing things right — arresting everyone — but the justice system is not doing their job by keeping people locked away. See the video at 20:11.

This message was the same used by Nixon in his campaign of “law and order.”

The carceral propaganda is presented as a matter of fact. The criminals are going to overrun society and they aren’t afraid, so we must lock them away forever, goes the thought process.

The false message our society in the 1970's needed to be locking up everyone in the “poor areas,” is the subliminal message of the film.

When I wonder why the United States leads the world in the numbers of people in the prison system, I only have to look at what was floating around in the culture back in the days when law makers were reacting to popular sentiment. This is why we have the laws we have.

We see the same thing happening today with the way the proponents of a privately owned for profit prison system lobby the government to “crack down” and lock up more people, including immigrants and small children in the thousands.

Chris Hedges, B.A. (journalism and political science), J.D., is an editor at ILLUMINATION, The Bad Influence, and Red Curtain Erotica. I also run a website where you can publicize your Medium stories: Publisher’s Spotlight 1.0.